money-saving-in-the-works

My Hubby is taking his vacation from the 14th to the 20th of this month, so I’m going to be offline for most of that time. I will jump on for a few minutes everyday to read emails but for the most part I’m going to be cuddled up with Hubby, enjoying my time with him. After V-day I’ll be posting again. I’ll have a few posts through out this week as well, so keep a look out for them. I’m going to dig up last year’s Valentine plans & share them with y’all. They are pretty frugal, and the dinner was delicious! That will probably come on Tuesday or Wednesday so you have time to get whatever you need at the store.

I’m going to start a new blog soon. I have the idea, it expands on the $5 dinners that I’ve been posting. Its going to be about feeding your family on $10/day; breakfast, lunch, & dinner! I’m sure I can do this, I feed my family of 5 for about $10 every day. However, I don’t have a name yet for this blog. If you have any ideas, leave a comment for me.

I’m not going to abandon this blog though, so don’t worry. I will only be posting once a week though, mainly my favorite store’s coupon match ups (United Supermarkets, starting next week) & a once a month debt & savings update. Any good articles on money saving that I find will also be linked to, but so far they all say the same thing. You know, cut the luxuries, buy generics, etc.

I’m going to be working on a few posts for the new blog, so I have a few ready when I finally figure out the name. I also have to figure out my posting schedule, what subject is going to be posted on what days, ya know? I have a LOT of ideas for my new blog, I’m going to have to write them all down or I might forget them. I will definitely make a post when I have it all set up, I’d love for y’all to visit & let me know what you think.

I decided that I’m going to start doing the budget/$5 dinners again. Albertson’s has a $1 sale going on right now, so its the perfect week to get back in the habit!

This week’s meal is Brown Sugar Pork Chops with Cheese Rice and Steamed Vegetables. Sounds complicated, right? Wrong! You’ll need:

• John Morrell Pork Loin Chops, Bone-In; about 1 1/2 pounds, or enough chops to feed your family, I have 6 so I need at least 6 chops. $1/lb
• Zatarain’s Rice Side Dishes - my personal favorite is the Cheddar Broccoli Rice. $1
• Allen’s or Veg-All vegetables - I usually make green beans with pork. - There is a 55¢/1 coupon on VegAll SteamSupreme that expires 1/31 from the 12/13 RedPlum Insert.
• Brown Sugar - a Tablespoon per chop - I have some leftover from holiday baking
• Butter or Margarine - 1 Tablespoon per chop - this is a kitchen staple, isn’t it?
• Soy Sauce - 1 Tablespoon

My total came up to $3.97 but that’s just a rough estimate because I keep butter on hand & had some brown sugar already on hand. Some tips for this recipe: Line your pan with foil because the sugar can get baked on & be a real pain to clean! I’ve skipped the soy sauce before, and it tasted just fine without it. So if your out, or don’t eat it because of the sodium, your chops will still taste great. I don’t know about your chops, but every time I’ve bought some they’ve felt grainy, so I rinse them off in cold water before I put them in the pan.

Well, I went through my list of resolutions that I posted the other day & decided what month I’m going to work on which resolution. I also realized that some of them might need a little explanation.

• January - Exercise More - I haven’t actually managed to do my belly dancing DVD, but I did spend most of yesterday walking, either to the store or around the house because I was cleaning.
• February - Menu Planning - I actually got started on this this week too. Me & the oldest sat down & worked out a menu for this week. We’ll see how well we stick to it. I’ve always been able to make a menu, but sticking to it is the hard part for me.
• March - Work More -  I’m still working on this one. I need to organize my bookmarks so that all my work sites can be opened at the same time. I have set a weekly financial goal and am working towards it. Each day I see how much I need to go, then set my daily goal. So far its working for me.
• April - Staying Calm - Not having any luck with this one yet, but I haven’t had much time to figure out how to stay calm without sounding like a robot. Last time I tried it, Hubby said I sounded as if I was bored with everything. LOL
• May - Eat Better - Since we did a menu this week, we’re also starting to eat healthier. Every dinner has at least one vegetable, one starch (potatoes, bread, or noodles) & meat. We are not vegetarians, I can’t even get the Hubby to eat Beans & Rice for dinner! Picky man…
• June - DeClutter - Well, I’m probably going to have to get started on this soon. Our lease is up at the end of May & Hubby wants to start looking for a house then. Hopefully the rent-to-own real estate office will have a nice one for us by then, if not we will rent one. The little ones are getting tired of not being able to play in a yard again.
• July - Organize School Work - I have a bookshelf here in the office that everyone uses as a catch-all. So I have to clean it off, straighten the books up & figure out a place to store the extra paper & other school supplies. I also need another file box just for the girls’ work. Three kids x 6 subjects (I feel like I’m missing one, but I can’t think of it) = a lot of papers to keep up with!
• August - Chores for the Girls - Right now, they are all helping me pick up. I’m debating on whether I want to give them a couple chores to do every morning, noon, & afternoon or if I want to give them a longer list & have them do it once a day. Until I decide, they’ll keep helping me.
• September - Clear Desk & Keep it Clear - I cleared it most of the way over the weekend, so now all I have to do is finish clearing it (Sunday’s coupons are right on top just yelling at me to clip them) and then keep it that way. Its usually my catch all, I always tell the girls to put something on my desk… But I never remember to take care of it.
• October - Keep Up With My Coupons - I’ve already gotten started on this one. I went through my coupons on Saturday, pulling out the expired ones. Later today/tonight I’ll probably cut Sunday’s coupons & have my 13yo put them in the binder. Makes shopping easier if I know where my coupons are & which ones I have.
• November - Work on Passive Income - I have an account with Associated Content already & have a few articles up. They don’t make me much though so I want to add to them in November. I’m also going to sign up for the Bum Marketing e-course again, I had it a long time ago so I’m sure things have changed a little bit. Its also my birthday this month so I’ll have to do something to celebrate.
• December - Finish Craft Projects - When the holiday stress hits me, I’m going to need something to relax. I have a box full of started craft projects & I figure 30 minutes to an hour of crafts (mainly cross-stitch and crochet) will help me relax before bed.

I know a lot of people know who the Marvel Super Heroes are - X-Men, Spider-Man, Hulk, Fantastic 4, etc. I used to watch all the cartoons of the 90’s & even read some of the comics. I love the Hulk movies, X-Men movies, & even the Fantastic 4 movies. I know a bit about them all, so a few weeks ago when I saw ‘The SuperHero Squad Show’ on Cartoon Network, I just had to watch it. Its pretty funny!

The main characters are Iron Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Silver Surfer, & Thor. They also have Ms Marvel & Reptil. They are all chibi-like cartoons…. Big feet, big hands, and cutesy faces. They do keep their main personalities though - Iron Man is a know-it-all tech genius, Wolverine is still cranky & anti-social, Hulk still talks about himself in 3rd person & isn’t very bright, Silver Surfer is kinda stupid, & Thor still talks with his Valhalla lingo. But they are cuuuuuute! Everytime I watch it, I just crack up when I see Wolverine. He shouldn’t be that cute! Hulk is pretty funny too. ‘Hulk loves plant. Hulk name plant…. Plant’

I’ve spent the last 2 weeks thinking. I decided that I’m going to get a head start on my New Year’s resolutions this week. And I have a lot of them! Too many to try to do all at once, honestly. I think I’m going to work on 1 a month, I remember reading somewhere that it takes about 4 weeks to get a good habit set in stone. So a list of my resolutions:

1. Exercise More (I have a belly dancing DVD )
2. Menu Planning (I really hate having to go to the store a million times a week because the girls ran out of something or we don’t have something for dinner)
3. Write/Work More (I want to actually see some real money in my paychecks instead of less than $5)
4. Stay Calm (still need to work on this, I hate yelling)
5. Eat Healthier/Serving Size (This one is going to be hard, I think, because I’m not used to eating healthy or the serving size)
6. DeClutter Closets (got a lot of stuff stashed away & we haven’t even used it or looked for it in a year now!)
7. Organize Books & School Work
8. Decide on Chores for all 3 Girls
9. Keep Desk Clean
10. Keep Up With My Coupons
11. Work on Passive Income (mainly Associated Content, but thinking about trying Bum Marketing too)
12. Finish All the Unfinished Craft Projects in My Room

Some of these work together or get the same results, so they may seem redundant to you. But the way I work, I have to have back up ideas because I know I won’t want to get everything done the way I should or want to. I’m going to be working on them in this order for the most part. I’ll take 30 minutes a day to work on my resolution for that month, probably while the girls are sleeping (except for the chores) so that I can have peace & quiet to do it.

I’m in a slump. I know I need to work, but I just don’t have the energy or will to do it. I know I’m super lucky that Hubby’s job pays all our bills & then some. I want Hubby to come home & stay though, driving is getting harder for him. He’s got arthritis in his back & neck so sitting in the same position for 8+ hours everyday is killing him. So I have a very good reason to work, just no drive. I’ve tried everything I can think of - scheduling my day by the hour so that I can get everything done, using ‘focus’ software so that I don’t get distracted, etc - but nothing seems to work. Its so easy to skip work & play on Facebook all day instead. I guess I just need to buckle down & work, and pay attention to my PDA alerts instead of ignoring them all day. Ugh, I feel so lazy… I know I should work, but I don’t really want to.

I don’t mean you white-hat hackers out there, I hate hackers that are malicious. My husband’s email was hacked yesterday, we don’t have any proof but I think it was this woman that he works with that he was talking to when we were having problems. The reason I think its her is because I got sent a very nasty email saying that Hubby is only with me for the kids, he really loves her (mentions her by name), & that he tells her that their love-making is the best he’s ever had. Obviously, whoever sent the email is trying to break me & him up. So it stands to reason whoever sent it has something to gain from that break-up. That’s the main reason for my suspicions.

She thinks she’s in love with him and that he loves her, but I know he’s told her that nothing will ever happen between them. She’s a stalker type though so she’s not giving up. She’s another reason I want him to quit driving. She works there, she has access to the spare keys for the trucks, and she’s desperate. Add all that up together & you get her swiping the spare key to Hubby’s truck & trying to seduce him when he’s taking a quick nap at the yard. I trust him… Its crazy Jezebels like her that I don’t trust.

For a long time, I’ve been just like my mom, constantly yelling at my girls whenever they did something wrong. I’m tired of that, I hate yelling! I decided that I’m going to start staying calm no matter what they do, no screaming at them for being kids or anything. Some days I do better than others, the past 3 days have been pretty bad because I’ve been feeling pretty cruddy. I’m going to figure out what’s wrong with me, then I’m getting right back on the no screaming.

I know alot of people are religious, in some way or another. They may not go to church but they believe. I’ve tried most normal religions and they’re not a good fit for me. But I discovered something when I was 17 that really struck home for me, Wicca. At the time, I couldn’t really pursue it like I wanted because I was living with my parents & they aren’t the most tolerant of people. But now I’ve got a Hubby who supports me in everything that I do, even if he’s a little misguided on the concept. I guess that means its my job to educate him on real Wicca. Whenever I start reading or studying a particular subject in Wicca, he gets all excited & tells me to buy everything for it. I’m still working on making him realize that I have to wait for the right thing to come to me. I’ve been reading about Wicca for almost a month now, but I just now found the right altar table. And its not even marketed as an altar! Its a normal circular end table, with a drawer and lower shelf. But when I saw it, I knew it was what I was going to use. It’ll be here tomorrow, and I get to spend the afternoon putting it together.

I found a new website that pays you to go to other websites. It is BeRuby.com & so far I like it. They don’t pay much for each click, but they have a lot of commonly used sites like FaceBook, MySpace, YahooMail, Gmail, and many others. Each click is worth half a penny and you only get credited for a visit every 24 hours, so you can’t click for credit every 5 minutes. They pay to your PayPal once you reach $10. I only signed up last Thursday I think, and I’ve gotten $1.10 already. Some of that is the sign-up bonus, $1.00. But I’ve gotten 1 to 2 pennies per day. Its not much, but when the only thing your doing is clicking to go to something you normally go to anyway, its good.

My birthday was last week & I got a new HD camera for it. I like it! Its much better than my old camera, now I just have to get me a webcam so that I can video chat with Hubby when he stops for the night while driving. I’ve already gotten some of my Christmas shopping done, 1 present for each of the girls, 2 for my mother-in-law, & 1 for Hubby. All that’s left is 3 more for each of the girls, and my sister-in-laws & their hubbys.