2012 Budget

First, I should say that I am 8K 5180.09 SHORT on my budget this year. But based on last years sales, if I cool it on supplies and inventory, I should make that easy this year with my hair pretties. I am in the hole right now, about $2700 on supplies so I will pay that back first before I put extra hair bow money into the regular budget.

I now have a mortgage on the house we are in. I did some rearranging of cash and that bit me in the butt when the market crashed. But I am not going to worry about it until I hit 40. Who knows what will happen by then!

I am also buying a car sometime next year. I am just going to have to break down and do it. My current car is 12 years old and is wearing out everywhere so quickly.

Please note, in no way is this budget frugal at all. At this point, my mad dog frugal budgeting skills are missing. I haven't seen them all year! I do hope to trim some expenses and I will note those.

Flexible Expenses

1. Groceries 2000 - this is an increase over last year. Everything has gone up!
2. Gas 1025 - Natalie's school is 15 minutes away. This has caused an increase in our gas usage.
3. Natalie's Clothes 400 - I am not going to need this much. But this does include shoes and boy are kid shoes expensive! I have some pairs set aside but I know I will need 1 pair of white church leather sandals and a pair of size 11.5 (or was it 12?) tennis shoes. I have 4 rubbermaid totes of clothes I have bought for $1 at the local consignment store. Great brands like Gap & Gymbo. I have to pull it all out and see what is needed to complete outfits. I am really looking forward to the end of Jan clearance sales for winter clothes for next year!
4. My Clothes 300 - my stuff is looking really rough. This is 3 pairs of jeans, 3 capris, some tshirts and a couple of hoodies. And a pair of shoes. Girl clothes are expensive too! I will be on the hunt for stuff for me at consignment too.
5. Natalie's Birthday 100 - Her birthday is actually part of a vacation I have planned. And truthfully I am not sure she will get much of anything else. I am planning on one toy, them my BF and her BFF will give a gift on the trip. I might get her a giftcard where she can pick out a second item. This money will also need to cover a cake/cupcakes on site.
6. Other Birthdays 150 - BF, Mom & DD's little friends.
7. Natalie's Christmas 400 - this is a big number. I am assuming she will get a doll bed to go with 2011's doll. And those stinkin beds are expensive.
8. Other Christmas 300 - The bulk of this is for the BF and my Mom.
9. Cats 720 - sigh. Most of this is for the strays outside. I am a sucker. They are nice cats but I really wish they'd go away.
10. Bath 300 - This number seems so low for a year. I guess we will see.
11. Vacations 1400 - last year's number was 5 or 6K. I have two trips planned for 2012. DD is starting real school and can't miss days. So we have something in Jan then something else at the end of May.
12. Dental Work 1000 - I have a cracked tooth and need a crown. It was cheaper for me to pay for the crown and cleanings than it was to have dental insurance and pay copays. So this sounds dumb, but I totally forgot my company gives me 1K as a bribe for having a high deductible health plan. I will use this money for my tooth.
    
13. Mad Money 575 - $10 a week plus tax. This will be hard for me.

Fixed Expenses

1. House Taxes, Insurance, Mortgage 5310
2. Car Insurance 510 (number based on new car)
3. Cable Modem 240
4. SS & Medicare 3700
5. medical extra 2200 - I am losing my distance vision and have to have laser eye surgery or I won't be able to wear contacts anymore. This won't fix it, but will buy me some time.
6. Power, Water, Cell 2520
7. CC Payment 720 (this is a promo)
8. School lunches 130 - I pack most of her food, she eats on pizza day
9. netflix 108
10. Gymnastics 1000 (est)- DD is well on her way to competitive gymnastics. I am really excited but scared about the $! Uniforms, extra lessons travel costs...around 4K. But it won't happen this year.
11. Ballet 423 - plus a leo but I will buy that with clothing money. She will switch from the pink to a white uniform.
12. Car 4800 - car payment.From the house sale, I have enough to buy a car. I just can't give up my security blanket. So I will finance a car, my credit union is 2% for new cars now. I haven't decided what I will buy and when exactly.
13. 401K/IRA 15,000 12,800 (company does another 2200) (wanted to save 15K total this year including that contribution. Had to fix my math!)
    

Whew so there it is in all it's glory. I will be tweaking and playing with it as time goes on. Bye!

Some 2012 purchases

I wanted to count these because that would sort of be cheating if I didn't!

I was able to purchase DD 4 PJs/Nightgowns on clearance this week for next summer and winter. Since I didn't have any of these stocked up, I was happy to find them on sale. Plus they are really cute :)

$45.20 for Owl Pjs (CUTE CUTE CUTE!), fuzzy princess PJs, Rapunzel nightgown and Ariel nightgown for DD for 2012.

$18.07 was spent on 3 Disney tshirts for her next summer (this should be the last of the shirts she needs).

I spent $43.80 on three shirts for myself. A Disney sweashirt, a long sleeved t and a tshirt. Then I bought two pairs of those weird converse croc shoes. The are canvas sneakers on top then the white toe and white part on the bottom is croc stuff. The inside is croc stuff too and has the little nubs that massage your feet. Those were $32.85. I still need stuff for our Jan trip, it isn't even 2012 and I am already thinking I am going to mess up the "my clothes" column. Boo.

Left to spend on DD's clothes: 336.73
Left to spend on my clothes: 223.35

I also bought a t for my DDs BFF to add to her birthday present. I bought the other part of it 2 months ago. $6.02

Slacker Girl Returns

Every year I just sorta fade away and ignore the blog. I am going to try this all again starting in Jan. Who knows, maybe in 3-4 years I can actually stick with it the entire year? lol

I am trying to think back to this past year. The three main money things that changed were the big house selling, the stock market crashing...again (more on this later) and I started up a business. I still have my regular job too so I have been really busy.

Here in a bit I will post my budget for 2012.

July Meal Planning

So I was looking through my freezer trying to figure out what meals I could make to totally clear it out. Late July/early August is prime farmers market freezer stocking time and I want to be prepared with an empty freezer!

These are the dinners I came up with, I need 26 dinners:

sausage, peppers, onions, rice X 2
fish tacos X 2 (need corn & black beans)
fish veggie rice X 2
chicken legs frozen veggie, mac & cheese X 2
homemade chicken veggie soup X 2
chicken breast, frozen veggie rice stir fry
chicken & dumplings (need mixed veggies)
ham peas mac & cheese X 8 (need 7 veggies for this)
(and are we really going to eat this 8 times in July? Maybe, DD likes it and it is easy on me. I would like to mention its all natural organic mac and cheese...not that it makes it that much better!)
shrimp with pink sauce & veggie (missing shrimp, alfredo and veggie)
spaghetti (missing ground beef)
Chinese dumplings, rice & veggie (need veggies, need filling items for dumplings) X 4

Hmmm....ok so that wasn't so hard. Not a lot of variety but to tell you the truth, I am too tired for variety. I barely keep things together here and I can't get all fancy on stuff.

I think for breakfast, it's time to get into the oatmeal routine and stick with it. I think for lunch, we'll be having a lot of breakfast foods too. I think as long as I keep a good carb/fruit/protein balance, does it matter if you eat an egg on toast at noon instead of 8am? And I am going on the record now, PBJ a couple of times a week will not kill us in the month of July (is my tiredness showing now?)

So my shopping list could be this simple:
13 pounds of veggies. Fresh, frozen, whatever.
corn
black beans
shrimp
jar of alfredo
pd of ground beef
water chestnuts
2 pds of pork
cabbage
ginger root
(I am going to make 100 of these and freeze them for next month too. I figure if I am going to have the mess, go ahead and get it over with.)
5 milks
5 juices
sugar for lemonade
canister of oatmeal
fresh fruit
8 loaves of bread
5 dozen eggs
PB
crackers (for hummus that I'll make)
Depending on sales, I can probably pick this stuff up for $100. My biggest problem will be overspending in fruit and fresh veggies, I have a lot of waste there.

My goal for July is $150. Wish me luck.

I am still here :)

I just don't have anything too exciting to say lol

My house isn't closing until the 8th. That drives me nuts but at least I got $2250 in unexpected rent. After I pay the interest on my loan, I made $1750ish. I'll take it.

I also booked a cruise for a new client. But I won't be paid for that for a few months.

My spending is like wheeeeeeeee. I blew over $400 on ribbon..sweet sweet ribbon. It's my korker ribbon and I think I have found an awesome way to cook it all (you cook it to curl it). Stay tuned!

Next month I work from home every day. The little one has ballet camp on my office days and it was just easier to go remote the full month than to shift things around. So my overall spending should be a lot less. Very little gas money and our fast fooding should be a lot better. I won't be spending money in the vending machines at work either.

I have been working on my hairbows, at least 2 hours a day. I have a big show in Sept and I really want to have my basic inventory done. This is my goal:
1050 basic bows. 30 of my base 35 colors.
840 baby bows. 24 of my base 35 colors.
200 big solid bows
720 small korker solids, 20 of each of my 36 basic colors
120 med size solid bows
240 fat korkers
240 mixed korkers
120 tutu bows
100 felties
200 specialty print bows
---------------
3830 bows - yikes but really I am at least 1/3 of the way there. I just want to sew up a big inventory so when I pay to do a show, I am not feeling like I am wasting the opportunity.

Ok I think that is it for now. I will post my June spending in a few days. It is going to have a killer credit card payment on it. Eeeck.

Two weeks of Spending

I have joined a no buy group on DIS that is motivating me to track everything I spend. We confess our spending and go woohooo when we do good lol

This is what it's looked like over the last couple of weeks. If you took off the $400 cruise deposit, then I'd actually be doing good. This of course doesn't include about $230 in utilities. It also doesn't include any remodeling expenses. My mini goal for the month was to keep non vacation, non utility spending to $700.

6-14 38.64 (food and gas)
6-13 $7.44 McDs
6-12 $1.10 DDs breakfast
6-11 $54.15 lunch & groceries & gas
6-10 $12.59 (pizza and diet coke)
6-9 zero
6-8 $16.53 cats & bath, $400 cruise
6-7 taco bell $2.19
6-6 $61 zumba, shoes, tea, leotard & phone
6-5 zero
6-4 $93.54 (bug killer, pool, sprinkler, flowers, lunch & groceries)
6-3 $1.10 for tea
6-2 $105 for heat pump repair
6-1 $35.33 + 5.57 (car repair and mcDs)

Early Saver Discount

Hi, my name is Kim. I am a cruise addict. I set up a travel agency just so I could stalk rates on Carnival ships. (no really, I did, it wasn't expensive lol)

I finally go to book our trip in Nov, I am super happy to say we are going to Grand Turk, Half Moon Key and Nassau on a 5 day cruise. We are going to stop at Sanibel island on the way to Miami and spend a few days there too. Yiipppeeeeee

We did the Early Saver rate through Carnival. If you don't know what that is, basically you commit several months (sometimes years!) to a particular cruise. You get the lowest estimated price on that cruise.

Now sometimes pricing will shift and they aren't filling the ship as fast as they wanted to. Enter the Early Save Price Protection Guarantee!

I booked our cabins last week. Last night they dropped $5 per person. Now call me cheap (go ahead, I like it!) but that was enough for me to request a discount. Shoot, that is $20, $20 is $20 right?

It took maybe 2 minutes to fill out the form. I got confirmation of my rate reduction today. YAY!

So now I have a new obsession. How many times can I squeeze a discount out of this cruise? lol It's a game, a fun fun game!

Remodeling!

Have I explained the house thing here? I can't remember.

9 years ago last week I bought a house for 37K from an estate sale. It was 1040 SF, 3 bed, 1 bath on .6 acres. It had a full basement.

My fix em up history:

• Inside, it was a wee bit redneck. First thing I did, tear all the 70's paneling off he hallway. I discovered beat up drywall which I promptly put a thick plaster on.
• I cut a hole in the wall connecting the kitchen breakfast nook with my den. That one game my Mom a heart attack because I just went in with a hammer and saw one day at did it lol
• I painted the knotty pine in the living room, walls and ceiling. It is very beachy now I like it.
• I took the linoleum off the walls in the kitchen. yes, on the WALLS. It took hunks out of the wall so the drywall came down, new insulation went up and my crooked drywall was put up. Thick plaster anyone? Check!
• Next, the thing I wish I hadn't done, was put in a tile floor in the kitchen. I should have put in a floating laminate over the linoleum. I loathe my tile floor. I have busted tiles, it is cold, it is hard to clean. I LOATHE it and it was so hard to do and so expensive. I am so sick of repairing it, I could just scream.
  
• I painted my kitchen cabinets white - huge difference.
• Somewhere in here I refinished the hardwood throughout the house and put stucco on the ceilings.
• Then I hit the bathroom. The faucets leaked and my Dad fixed them. Then I knocked out all of the 60's gold glitter tile, took out the old toilet, took out the old sink which looked like it belonged in a camper and retiled the tub in white, put in new drywall (crooked - insert thick plaster here), put in a new bath cabinet, a new sink top, a new faucet, a new toilet, a new mirror and a new floating floor.
• Outside during all of this, Dad helped me put white siding on the house, replaced gutters, cut off trailer awnings on the windows, replaced the old cruddy windows with new ones and helped me clear land.
• Oh ya, and like the first month I owned it the heat pump burned out. Month 13 of a 12 month warranty. Found out the electrical wasn't updated correctly but the install biz was already out of biz. So new breaker box and heat pump box thingy outside.
  
• Hmmm what else? Oh ya, a windstorm came and knocked off my roof on my deck. I actually got a check for that which was awesome because it was ugly and I didn't want it anway. Later, Dad helped me build new rails.
• He also helped me build my front porch rails.

Gosh I think that is it. If you haven't seen the trend here, my Dad helped me redo the entire house. That is why I'll never move and why I choose to sell the other house. My Dad put so much effort into this one so I'd be happy. His mark is everywhere.

Currently I am working on:

• The kitchen. Cabinets, counters, sink, faucet, dishwasher, stove, lots of electrical. Eventually a new floor.
• My bath needs refreshing. When I did it the first time I was broke and couldn't buy nice things for it. So I need a new bath cabinet bad.
• My bedroom is going to lose a wall and gain the hallway area. I'd like to also vault the ceiling but that could be expensive.

And this is what happened today. My Dad would be super happy with it:

Architectural shingle in pewter. I couldn't be happier. It really inspires me to do my landscaping and do it right the first time. All my neighbors commented on it, I just couldn't be happier :)

This leaves me with about $15 and some change to finish up the house. The kitchen will just be a few hundred more for trims, the bath shouldn't be too bad. I'll probably spend another 1K in landscaping and do it right the first time. So I'll have 13Kish to devote to the basement. I am hopeful that will be enough since we are going for a bath (which I can tile myself) and the rest will be one large room. I can run the electrical wiring to save money and I will install the laminate myself which will save a ton. That will keep the house right at 70K. And really if it goes up to 80K, it isn't a big deal for an updated cottage on a half acre with almost 2100 SF!

Meal Planning

I was sickly for a couple of days this week. Not really ill, but just ran down and puny. My Mom took my DD for a little extra time so I could work more and fed her for me. I ate through a bowl of rice in 2 days. So I have a lot of stuff leftover from last week.

What I have to work with (off the top of my head, I know there is more...)
Dry: stale-ish bread, rice, noodles, shaped pastas, flour, oatmeal, Irish oats, hominy, several kinds of dried beans, tons of chickpeas, coffee, creamer, flavored tea bags, tons of organic stock and organic mac and cheese
Jarred/canned: spaghetti sauce & pineapple chunks
Frozen: chicken breast, a pack of sausages, 1 pd of GB, 1 pack of chicken legs, 2 packs of white fish, some bread rounds and mystery aluminum foiled items.
Produce: 4 peaches, 4 pears, 2-3 apples, 3-4 squash, 6 onions
Cold: just condiments and half a bottle of diet coke (I try to eat my fridge up every week to throw less stuff away)

What I bought....
2 Cherry 7ups for $1 (on sale and I had a coupon)
milk - $3.59
Apple Juice - $1.99
2 bags of Doritos, $2.98 (on sale and I had a coupon for $1 off of 2...I hope to hide one of these for next week - chips are my weakness)
2 pds of red grapes - $2.53
7 peaches - $2.34 (on sale 99cent pp)
1 pound bag of mini carrots - $1 (on sale!)
mustard - 89 cents
black tea - $1.17 (This is the first time I've ever bought off brand tea. It was almost half of the cost of Tetley, my preferred brand. Then I started thinking, isn't tea just a dried leaf? So I bought it lol)
1 pack of large flour tortillas - $1.09
10 ounces of ham - $2.79
2 pounds of block cheese - $5.98
ranch dressing - free with promo coupon
doz eggs - free with promo coupon
2 pds Jimmy dean sausage - $6
Total with tax - $36.18

This week is low meat. I wish I had bought more sausage to put in the freezer because that is a good price for my preferred brand. I saw chicken breast bone in for 99 cents but I still have half a plastic shoe box (I put them in sandwich bags individually then put them in the shoe box for organization and to protect against freezer burn) of chicken breast. There were zero beef deals at any of our stores. Oh well, good thing neither DD or I are overly fond of red meat.

Here is my hopeful plan for the week:
Sunday - date night, my boy is going to cook me a frozen pizza while we watch a movie from redbox or netflixs. I am so proud of him. Our old dates used to be $25-35 in dinner, walking around stores (where I'd spend money on silly stuff) then going to a movie with popcorn and cokes - another $35. I think he's figured out I'd rather spent that $60-70 ever week on a vacation.

The rest of the week:

• Perch with rice & green beans (half the bag)
  
• Japanese chicken with rice, zucchini & onions and carrots
• fish tacos with fresh salsa and peaches (the other half bag of fish)
  
• chicken veggie soup with my awesome organic stock (I went to Kroger last month and they were discontinuing large cartons of organic stock (chicken, beef and veggie) for 50 cents. FIFTY CENTS! I got all of them, 12. So I need to use them up!)
• spaghetti, garlic bread and snow peas

Does this look familiar? Yup, my Mom and my boy fed us so much last week when I was puny, all we really ate was fruit and breakfast at home. I remember making up a lot of the zucchini plus I made a few PBJ sandwiches. I realized I didn't have the ground beef for both the spaghetti and meatloaf so I let DD choose.

So that's it for the week, wish me luck.

$28.80 sold

I picked up consignment money for bows today. They want more so that is good!

(and wow what a bright background. it startled me when i opened the page...off i go to fix that lol)

Meal Planning

We didn't get half of our stuff eaten last week so some of this will be repeats. I went to Kroger yesterday and bought peaches, apples, 2 personal watermelons, yellow squash, zucchini, green beans, milk, a 7up, 3 doz eggs, 12 ounces of perch, onions, tomatoes and I can't remember what else. I spent a little over $35.

Perch with rice & green beans
Japanese chicken with rice, zucchini & onions and carrots
fish tacos (pollack) with fresh salsa and peaches
meatloaf burgers & squash
spaghetti, garlic bread and snow peas

Things always seem to derail on my food plans so I am only listing 5 meals. I have everything I need in order to make these 5 meals. So in a perfect world we'd eat hot cereals and eggs for breakfast, leftovers for lunch, these 5 meals, out to eat once just me and DD and out to eat once with my boy.

Spending - Week Twenty Two (May 28 - June 3)

Whew, glad this week is over. Talk about money stress!

Stress 1 - my AC/heat pump outside unit broke while we were on vacation. It took 4 days to get a tech out here but the repair was just $105. It was a small part that pretty much wears out every 5 years. Since my entire unit was 7 years old, I wrung an extra 2 years out of it!

Stress 2 - my car window motor broke. My car will be 12 in November. The two front window motors had already burned out and I had those replaced. My DD's window broke the night before we left on the trip. This is still broken (boo). It is a $200 non essential repair on a car that is worth maybe $1500. Would you fix it? I can fix it inside the door so it just stays up all the time.

Stress 3 - my check engine light came on - twice. I had loss of power and at one point I thought it just wasn't going to start. I took it to advanced auto for their free computer diagnostic and a major vapor lock coded. Now for us regular people who don't talk "car", I had a leak somewhere near my gasoline. He checked out my gas cap and low and behold, it was leaking fumes that were backing up into my engine. I had a lot of yucky crud in the gas cap compartment that I thought was just road dirt. He was like ummm...no...this cap has been bad for a LONG time (well don't I feel stupid?). He asked, has your gas mileage gotten worse? Why yes it has! It was like the clouds shifted and the heavens shined down on this dear Advanced Auto man who had solved all my car problems. The gas cap, gas cleaner, gas filter and some clear coat paint came out to about $35. Fixed!

Stress 4 - I dropped a full 2 liter bottle. On my foot. After I got done almost puking, my foot swelled up so much that the underneath pad of my foot extended to almost the end of my toes. I couldn't move my big toe or move the muscles on the top of my foot. It happened late at night while I was at my Mom's, so I crashed there with every intention of going to the doc in the morning. When I woke up, ooohh...I could wiggle my toe again (it was so weird, like it was paralyzed) and my foot was half the size. Since it didn't really hurt, I didn't go to the doc. I am happy to report, 3 days later I still have swelling on the top of my foot but I can comfortably walk on it and I only have a twinge of ache every so often. Super happy I didn't blow $300 on a doc visit for a bruised foot. (I am all for going to the doc, but I try to avoid stupid visits...you know the ones where the doc gives you a look like "why are you here?")

Other things I bought this week included my main grocery run, another smaller grocery run to stock up on a sauce packet that I can't seem to find anywhere else (on sale 20% off!) and to get tomatoes. I also filled up my car. On Tuesday I bought breakfast and a snack at work.

Since I am not calculating every penny now, it is a lot easier. I know I am behind for the year and it has motivated me to rejoin my nobuy threads on DIS. Those ladies can really motivate you.

I will have a wicked high June because I'll be paying the CC bill for 2 trips. My actual low spending for this month won't show until July. I am basically going through my checking account and adding up my "outs". So I guess in a way, my spending year is Dec - Dec because I'm 21 days behind on he CC bill.

I think that is it. My what a long post!

Meal Planning

I've not been doing this as I am sure you can see by our constant eating out.

What I have to work with (off the top of my head, I know there is more...)
Dry: Rice, noodles, shaped pastas, flour, oatmeal, Irish oats, hominy, several kinds of dried beans, tons of chickpeas, tons of organic stock and organic mac and cheese
Jarred/canned: spaghetti sauce & pineapple chunks
Frozen: chicken breast, a pack of sausages, 1 pd of GB, 1 pack of chicken legs, some bread rounds and mystery aluminum foiled items.
Produce: 4 apples, 1 iffy cutie orange
Cold: salad dressing and 2 yogurts - that's it, sad eh?

What I bought for the week:
Doritos - $2
2 20oz Breads - 69 cents each
BBQ Sauce - 49 cents
2 Sierra Mists - 69 cents each
2 packs of ballpark hot dogs - 99 cents each
2 heads of lettuce - 49 cents each
(these were all the grand opening specials for my store)
dozen eggs - 1.49
1 pd stir fry veggies - 1.67
vidalia onions (1.94 pds @ .79 pp)
milk - 3.59 (this is the cheap milk too)
peaches 1.39 pds @ 1.69 pp
2 pds frozen green peas
a big seedless watermelon - 3.99
2 taco seasonings - 39 cents
2 12oz frozen snap peas - $1.50 each
ground chuck - 3.05pds @ 2.69 pp
2.59 pds of bananas @ 49 cents pp
1 pd frozen corn - 1.25
then I had a $5 off of $35 grand opening coupon so all of this was 37.99.

Breakfast will be eggs, toast, oatmeal or hot cereal and fruit.
Lunch is whatever I can pull together. Prob leftovers. This is the first week of no school.
Dinners
1 - chicken, stir fry veggies, rice noodles
2 - beef tacos with salad
3 - chicken and dumplings with peas & carrots
4 - chicken enchiladas & corn
5 - taco rice (DD has requested more taco-y things), beef, black beans, rice - spiced up
6 - pepper chicken, rice & snap peas
7 - my guy normally takes us out

I will need to pick up a jalapeno and several packs of Kroger generic enchilada seasoning mix this week. I also have a free salad dressing and free egg coupon for them that I will cash in.

So if I make enough for a family of 4, then we should in theory have enough to roll to lunch the next day. I should be able to roll 1 bread (freeze it), the BBQ Sauce, the 1 pack of ballpark hotdogs, some onions, a frozen pea, a frozen snap pea & 1 pd of hamburger to another week.

~~~~~~Rant time~~~~~~

I went shopping this week with the intention of stocking up to put an end to the eating out. But I was simply horrified by the prices. I did pick and choose the super cheap items for the week and I'll work with it. But I wanted a few "fancy" things this week. Like shrimp, normally it is $5 pp on sale. $8 now. I wanted a dirty rice mix. $2.89 instead of $1.50 (max). Veggies used to be 75 cents pp frozen are on sale, $1.25. Taco seasoning mix, you know the powder envelope was 99 cents. For powder? I switched to the super generic store brand, taco bell can stick it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The new Kroger ad came out today and luckily apples, pears, avocados, yellow squash, zucchini, green beans & tomatoes are 99 cents pp. I will pick those up much later in the week for next week's menu. if I make up 10 stir fry mixes, I will have saved $6.70. It is something to think about for sure.

Extra Moola $493.39

So my house should close next week. My buyer has been renting it for 3 weeks now and I have collected $750. I have an interest only loan on that house right now (kinda - don't ask, it's weird math) so I am going to take out the 256.61 that I'd pay for the month. And the other $493.39 will go straight to my extra money column. I might get another week's rent if closing is pushed to Friday. If so, I'll add it here.

Plus I should be receiving an insurance premium overage check, if I have done my math right. I will post that if/when it comes.

Changing Things Around

The way I am tracking stuff is getting on my nerves. Back when I had more time, and more patience, I relished in marking each item off its own little category and keeping running totals.

No more. I mean seriously, single (ish) mom here with 2 jobs. I am sooo over it.

I am going to look through all my bank statements and CC statement and calculate how much I spent for the month. Then I'll just report the overall chunk of cash at the end of each month.

What I'll stop doing is beating myself up over every nickel and penny. I am my own worst enemy.

So anyway, I am going to play with the numbers and change my little sidebar shortly.

Spending - Week Twenty One (May 15 - May 27)

We are at the beach - wheeeeeeee

Spending - Week Twenty (May 14 - May 20)

14 - $4.93 on Starbucks for me and the boy. $59.72 for groceries at Kroger.
15 - $16.42 a game for DD for her Leapster. I am taking this out of her allowance.
16 - zero
17 - breakfast $3.29 and DG $7.10
18 - zero
19 - another bobo bear for DD. $15.79
20 - zero - kinda - I have a few things to pick up for our trip that I'll roll into vacation money.

So a little better this week. The groceries at Kroger just floored me though. Part of it was $10 in cokes for me. But everything was just a little more and it really added up. I can't wait until the farmers market starts back up.

For our trip next week, we are taking some stuff to cook in the room (we will have a full kitchen). I will note if this really saves money. I am bringing 2 dinners and stuff for our lunch. Mom is doing the same then we'll share for variety. Normally bringing food and cooking doesn't bother me. But for some reason this week it is rubbing me the wrong way. I guess I just want to lounge and be catered to. Silly me! lol

Sold

Another tutu - this is my reminder to add $18 to the bottom number.

Spending - Week Nineteen (May 7 - May 13)

I am going to keep weekly tracking even though it looks like I'll have to hit up my savings to cover everything for the year. Phooey on me.

7 $23.25 groceries, $1.95 home depot, $12.75 drinks and lunch
8 $37.70 mothers day gift, $78 target, $10.79 Mother's Day present
9 zero
10 $3.48 breakfast, $14.24 stuff for wedding, $3 change of address fee, $42.09 gas
11 $5.35 BK, $21.23 for biz supplies, $53.05 for wedding stuff, $10.95 dress for DD
12 5.48 McDonalds (My new daycare payment is to feed my Mom breakfast), $4.37 gift for mom, $45.91 for wedding things. $4.51 for lunch tacos
13 zero

Sold

I was paid for one tutu tonight, sold another with payment and got another order tonight. I won't count the third until I am paid so this is my reminder to put $36 into the extra money column below.

I've also sold some bows at the consignment store and they have requested more purple ones. It looks like that is going to average 10 a month. Not a huge amount but its not like I am spending time selling them. I drop them off, I pick up cash. But I won't add that number to the bottom until I pick up the money.

I will have some super cute outfits available in size XS (4-5) and S (6). The shirt is black with glittery paris stuff on it. The tutu is hot pink, black and white. The hairbows have little effiel towers on them too. The complete package is $35. I will post pictures soon!

I am working away at my stock items for the big Oct sale. It is a huge festival where Carla (makes fun paper goods) and I will share a tent/booth. I am SO behind! I want to take 50 tutus and have 2 dozen of each bow done. I should stop posting and get back to sewing :)

Spending - Week Eighteen (April 30-May 6)

So we are back from NYC. After running all the numbers I spent $1136 for the week. $510 of that was the room, the rest was food, Mary Poppins tickets, tourist tickets to everything (bought these for my boy for his birthday) and a couple of souvies (I bought 2 pictures for $20 and DD got about $12 in toys).

With Natalie's train ticket and my prebuy for the statue of liberty tickets, I was at $1244 only $44 over. Pretty good considering those last minute tickets for Mary Poppins were $192! (eeck!)

Spending - Week Seventeen (April 23-29)

oops, I totally forgot to do this week's post. Since I am 100% credit carding it these days, at least I can go back and look stuff up.

23- $32.37 groceries
24 - ice cream treats for everyone 7.30
25 - zero
26 - lunch at work, $2.66, walmart 104.83(bath & cleaning mostly - we were out of everything)
27 - gas 42.86, taco bell 3.59
28 - bakery $7
29 - zero

So not horribly bad, not fantastic either.

Oh Good Grief

So I haven't been subtracting my stuff. I've just been merrily spending what i want when I want.

And you know what? My budget is blown. As we approach month 5 this is what I see...

I have used up 62.63% of our grocery money. In 1/3 of the year. The main issue with this is, I used to spend $40 a week and things would be wasted. Just for fun, I compared some old receipts to this year's prices. Pennies here, pennies there, add up to almost a 15% rise in prices. So dropping it to $30 wasn't smart and I'm going to run out.

I have used up 68.31% of my mad money. A lot of that was car repair and a ton of that was biz supplies. I had better get a move on selling fluff.

My gas is half gone. Even when you don't drive a lot, a 25% rise in gas prices hurts.

Eating out is in the negative by $30. So any more eating out will have to come from my mad money. What little is left.

So summary. I suck this year. Bad.

But to be a little upbeat, I do have enough supplies to produce $15-20,000 of bows and tutus. So I just have to resist the urge to buy more supplies until I start moving product.

If my fluff doesn't sell, I will have to move money around. I can already move the wedding money back into mad money, we aren't getting married until next May. We've chosen a local location and I've always wanted a May wedding so it's pushed back a few months. And seriously, even though my house sold, we still have his condo to sell and my house to work on. We won't get it all done by Oct!

And because we won't be doing a honeymoon in Oct, I will have some leftover vacation money, about $1400. Even if we do a week in Oct at the beach, that is just $400 so I potentially have 1K to move.

And I guess I can keep some of the house money out for everyday bills. But that isn't what it is for. Bummer.

Spending - Week Sixteen (April 16-22)

16- zero - cool
17- $2.19 mcdonalds, $22 for feeding my moving help, $70.99 for the uhaul for the rest of my stuff, $6.49 for uhaul gas, $10.94 gas for my car I guess, I don't remember buying this amount but it's on my CC and at my station.
18- $79.67 at walmart. 2 beautiful hanging baskets, 1 basket for my strawberry plants, a container for Natalie's clothes and a bunch of dirt for my garden.
19- target $45.97, three pairs of shoes for Natalie. 1 pair will be going back
20- another car repair $76.65, $5.72 for elastic for my biz
21- zero
22- $18.82 for my boy's birthday cake ingredients and mixers

Bow Sale

I made $38 tonight after I bought cookies for the girls and made a donation. This is my reminder to add it to the bottom right tracker.

Spending - Week Fifteen (April 9-15)

First, I'd just like to say I'm super proud of me for even blogging to week 15. I have the attention span of a gnat.

Second, I am spending like a maniac. I think the joy from not losing tons of cash every month has really set in. I am not even sure what I'll do with the money. Responsible Kim likes to remind wild Kim:

YOUR NEEDS

In retirement, you will need $20,000 a year in income. (Because of inflation, in 2020, that will be equivalent to $26,095.)(<--this is my income contribution to the house expenses when married, we've figured it all out on paper - our house will also be 100% paid off)

Part of that income will come from your Social Security and/or pensions. To produce the rest, you should build up your nest egg (including your 401k, IRA and other savings accounts) to $340,655 by the time you retire. (In 2020, that will be equivalent to $444,478).

YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING THERE

To save $340,655, your investments need to gain an average of -0.70% from now until retirement. We estimate that there is a 99.90% chance of this happening. (awesome possum)

Anyhooo, this is based on me sticking the house proceeds into my retirement account, still maxing out my 401K and putting 5K a year extra into my IRA. Looks good on paper. But bad Kim wants a beach condo. I am very undecided.

9- Saturday - fed Mom because she is helping me move, $20. Bath stuff and donation at Kroger 10.58. Paid $43 for April Ballet and $100 for July Ballet camp.

10- Sunday - Taco Bell 4.37 - fast food on the way to the other house so I could pack and clean.

11- Monday - clothes from target (3 shirts for me me me!!), flip flops from target (for DD) $32.19. $19.39 @ michaels for biz stuff, hobby lobby 2.94, even more biz stuff.

12 - Tuesday - 2 cups, 50 cents, breakfast at mcdonalds 3.83, biz stuff from crafter store 12.78, Statue of Liberty tickets $31. Burger King 3.29, $82.07 Kmart for capris (some of these will go back, I bought 2 sizes)

13 - Wednesday - playdate tacos with the girls 6.93

14 - Thursday - groceries & gas (charges are pending, groceries were $80ish, rant coming soon), Turbotax $82.07, biz supplies $168.05 (why yes, I have blown like 1K on biz stuff and have only made $216...stop adding it up!), $16 for a custom shirt for natalie to match her tutu...which I made with my business supplies. I am my own best customer.

15 - zero? really? finally!

I sold $13.88 in bows so I'll add that to the bottom.

I also did my taxes and have $4835 coming back to me. That is the last of my adoption credit, they changed the law this year so I got the rest of it back in a big chunk. I've been working through that credit for years! I am putting it into an IRA so I actually need to earn another $165 because I did some money manipulation to fund it before the deadline so it would count for last year. And I put in 5K. Ya, that didn't make a lot of sense when I typed it, just go with it.

I have a bow show next week. I am also making wholesale marketing packets for my bows to take to NYC. I figure worse case, I'm out ink, paper and a few bows.

This weekend I am renting a uhaul to move the few items I had at the house that sold. Salvation Army and the termite inspection dude comes on Tuesday. I am going to mow one more time. Then I never have to go to that part of town again. It is very exciting.

Spending - Week Fourteen (April 2-8)

Despite spending GOBS of money this week, I have had a FANTASTIC week. Why?

I sold my house! :happy dance: It has been half-a$$ed for sale for 10 months and with a realtor for 6. Today I sold it by owner to a guy who saw it on zillow while looking up a different house. He saw it at 10am and signed the contract at 3pm. I sold it for $900 less than my asking price. Life is good!

So my three huge purchases of the week were not budgeted. And one of them should have been.

You know what I'm missing? A car repair fund. My clutch was popping and so sticky so I took it in thinking the whole thing was going bad. Plus I had a screeching sound when it was cold and I cranked the wheel too far one direction. I ended up getting a new piston, a new part on my axle that had busted and new brakes for a little over $500. But the mechanic said my car was in great shape and should last easily the 2 extra years I want it to (it is 11.5 yrs old).

The ribbon is a biz thing, I fully expect it to pay for itself in the next few months.

Natalie got a new bed. She needed the extra space so I went with a jr loft. Now half of her toys fit under the bed and she has a lot more space.

Let's see, my grocery spending is out of control. So is our fast food consumption. It's because I've been so busy every stinking minute that I've not had time to prep or cook. Poor excuse I know. Every hour of the past two weeks has been planned out. On paper. yikes.

Sat - bed $141.26 rest of walmart groceries 33.99, 4.47 mcds
Sun - zero
Mon - walmart run, cat liter coffee pot, pineapple, beet chips etc 40.59
Tues - train ticket $77, bk 5.35
Wed - car repair $508.57, ribbon 606.58 (ya you read that right, I'll explain in another post), gas $43.13, $26.20 ribbon thing, mcds 4.96, dollar general 2.74
Thurs - $1.50 car wash, look for food city receipt
Fri - pizza for playdate $1.41 breakfast

On my bows, I am pleased to say I have found a store to sell them in. She told me they were underpriced for her clients so even after you take out her %, I am making more per bow that what I would at another consignment sale. I also put them on etsy to try to sell them. My purchase this week consisted of 35 solids colors for my favorite bow. I already had 34 colors and with 2 duplicates, should have 67 different colors. Seriously, if one of my bows doesn't match your clothing..well it's not happened yet.

So for the year, I can see the grocery, hba & eating out columns hitting the dust first. So that means I am going to have to work work work on this hair stuff and make some more money to add to these columns.

Oh ya, and I made 475.55 at the consignment sale. I will add that to the extra money section.

Bye for now!

Do you Groupon?

So I signed up for Groupon. It's a site where they buy bulk discounts for people based on the city you live in.

What I've discovered is it's a great way to save money on vacation!

I set my city to New York City. So far I've found 2 great deals. We got our harbor tour tickets for $13 each, a savings of $31 for our group. (yay Groupon!)

Then I got a $20 deli coupon for $10. The deli has great reviews, is priced well and is within walking distance of several place's we will be visiting. (yay Groupon!)

So with just a couple of clicks, we've saved $41 on our trip. I am out to prove to my guy that we can afford to travel multiple times a year with a little planning :) (yay Groupon!)

$216.25

I have tallied my bow sales, $216.25. Since I used mad money to buy a lot of supplies, I'll dump this cash into the extra $2200 I'm trying to make this year. I haven't gotten the grant total from clothing and toy sales but out of 375 hangers, it looks like I sold 224 of them. The bulk of the leftover is winter items so I've packed them up for the Sept sale.

The great purge of 2011

I have taken 375 hangers of clothes to the consignment sale that starts tonight. The bulk of it was imaginary DD2's wardrobe, 10 sizes, 2 seasons. I kept special pieces and a small quantity of basic items but the rest went. I also purged some of Natalie's clothes in bigger sizes because it didn't match her style. Instead of 14 totes holding baby gear, I have 4, 2 for toys, 2 for clothes. I'm good with that.

I purged Natalie's baby toys. I had a lot of fisher price stuff that I collected from yard sales that I choose to keep. Most everything else is gone. I also took in a ton of action figures that have been sealed up for 10 years.

I've walked through the house with a basket and have added things left and right. We use so little of our stuff. My office, which was the holding cell, echos! How awesome is that? This is the room that I'm remodeling this year by knocking out a wall. Now that stuff is out of the way, I can do that.

Anything leftover from the sale is going into my Mom's garage for the next consignment sale. I made my tags so it could go to one of two local sales. So worse case, I'll be storing some stuff until Sept. Then after the 2 Sept sales, the rest is off to Salvation Army.

Here are my bows, aren't they cute? These are just some of the solids (my fav are the solids). I don't have more than 6 of any pattern so I have at least 65 different solids/patterns. My etsy store and blog for bows will be up and running very soon :)

Weekly Spending Week Thirteen (March 26-April 1)

Sat 26 - Burger King 7.33
Sunday 27 - 61.26 groceries (I bought $25 of chicken breast for 88 cents again), burger king $3.13 (good grief we eat a lot of BK)
Monday 28 - zero
Tuesday 29 - $7.51 eating at work
Wednesday - burger king again, $4.20ish
Thursday - fluffy dress for Natalie toy for future baby - $12
Friday - 6 leotards for dance or gymnastics in like new condition woot! $15. Ballerina lightplate switch for Christmas, $2. Gymboree dress, $4. Velour ballerina hoodie, $2. McDonalds breakfast, I need the recipt. Also chinese for lunch for $7.25 with friends.

Spending - Week Twelve (Mar 19-25)

19 Saturday - chinese $2o (date w/boy)
20 Sunday - zero
21 Monday - 3.56 mcdonalds 23.15 ribbon sally 29.51 gas - 34.67 gas 12.98 groceries
22 Tuesday - 37.89 walmart dollar tree 43.80 (most of the stuff bought today is going back, I had a grand idea that I decided not to do.)
23 Wednesday - 22.77 ribbon
24 Thursday - zero
25 Friday - 63.35 for more bow making supplies. I totally underestimated what it was going to cost to set up a good inventory.

Spending - Week Eleven (Mar 12-18)

This week wasn't that bad. I spent a lot on groceries because Kroger was doing a deal. I am on a diet and trying to eat more fish. They had albacore tuna packets for 49 cents and whiting, 5 pounds for $9. Then we tried the annie's organic all natural mac and cheese (because seriously, I can't keep up with everything), and it was GOOD! So I bought a years worth at 49 cents a box.

18 - zero
17 - $35.65 Kroger, $8.18 target. $15 fish restaurant, $25ish hobby lobby again
16 - $43.65 Kroger, $65.52 hobby lobby, $10 gas
15- zero
14 - zero
13 - zero
12 - zero

Meal Plan March 2011

As I update, I am bumping this to the top. I did change beef stew for chili because I had all the ingredients. Why buy new stuff if you already have other stuff right? I also changed the Japanese meal to soup. My Mom told me about a TV cooking show where they basically made cream of carrot soup Japanese style. I am going to try that, I have TONS of carrots to use up! (and isn't this a pretty color? I'd like to have a tshirt this color!)

I really struggle with meal portions and getting overall volumes correct. This month I am aiming for 10 meals that are completely eaten, leftovers and all. Usually a meal lasts us 3 days (so tired of it after 3 days too).

- Chicken fajitas/tacos - done! YAY ME!
- chicken stir fry
- Some sort of red bell pepper cream pasta (I just bought 15 red peppers) with either chicken or pureed navy beans
- Spaghetti (beef)
- home made cream of mushroom soup (epic fail, my milk separated and I made disgusting mushroom cottage cheese)
- veggie plate, red lentils & cider potato/brussel sprout medley & carrots - Done! yay me!
- breakfast casserole (turkey sausage, cheese, grits, eggs) - done!
- chili - done!
- japanese carrot soup
- chicken hominy soup

Breakfasts - I'd like to use up every last bit of flavored oatmeal, regular oatmeal and some of the kashi cereal so I feel comfortable in ordering our bulk steel cut oats. I got some awesome fruit and nuts for it.

Lunch - hummus, egg sandwiches, PB sandwiches, fruit, maybe some soups, cold pastas etc

Spending - Week Ten (Mar 5-11)

You know, this week wasn't that bad. I did try to think before I bought stuff. And yes, we ate out again (a lot) but I wasted a lot less grocery wise that I normally do. I beat myself up over that all the time. But before I made my trek to Walmart, I went and collected my returns that had been sitting for 2 months and used that store credit on things we needed. Yay!

So here is how it broke down....

Saturday - zero
Sunday - bought a pizza for my boy 10.95
Monday - returned a bunch of stuff to walmart and bought groceries, some bath stuff, cat food, a small globe for Natalie, a coffee press for me (NYC trip woot woot) and ate out Chinese. But it all equaled out so I'm not going to mess with my numbers. Also $43 for ballet.
Tuesday - 47 cents for a coffee cup and sinus pills from the vending machine.
Wednesday- play date chick fil a 16.18 - yikes. Chickfila is good but that was really expensive. I also spent 3.11 at the bread store.
Thursday - tacos with work friend 6.50 plus 22 cents for a coffee cup (forgot my mug again!)
Friday - safety pins, chips, dirt, seeds - find receipt, about $12.

Just think how low my numbers could be if we could stop the eating out. I'd have enough for the car I've been wanting (want to see it? blogs are better with pictures!)

I can get the base model for 19,124 with a corporate discount and 2.84% financing. If I pay tax out of pocket then my payments are about $400 when you include insurance.

So ask me if I'm getting it. That's a big fat no. Unless you can see a way to squeeze $4800 out of my budget without reducing my 401K contribution. sigh

Garden Fun

beans, (4)	beans, (4)	beans, (4)	beans, (4)	beans, (4)	Beans, (4)
cucumbers, (2)	cucumbers, (2)	okra, (1)	okra, (1)	Cauliflower, (1)	Cauliflower, (1)
Tomatoes, (1)	Tomatoes, (1)	Tomatoes, (1)	summer squash, (1)	summer squash, (1)	summer squash, (1)

	Beans Sow seeds 1″ deep directly in garden after all danger of frost. Spacing: four plants per sq. ft. for bush beans, six to eight plants per sq. ft. for pole beans Plant second crop of bush beans (if needed) two weeks after first planting Days to harvest: 50-80 days from seed, depending on variety. Not frost-hardy. Hint: Add a legume inoculant when planting to increase vigor and yield. Learn more about Beans in our vegetable encyclopedia
	Cucumbers Plant seeds indoors 1/2″ deep three weeks before last frost, or seed in garden after frost. Transplant into garden after frost and when soil is 65 to 70 degrees F. Spacing one per sq. ft. for bush type; two per sq. ft. for vining type. Extend harvest with a second crop, planted two weeks later. Days to harvest: 50 to 60 days after transplanting. Not frost-hardy. Hint: Use row covers until flowering to keep off insects. Learn more about Cucumbers in our vegetable encyclopedia
	Okra Start seeds indoors four to six weeks before the last frost. Transplant into garden after soil reaches 65 degrees F. and nighttime temperatures stay above 60. Spacing: one plant per sq. ft. Days to harvest: 50 to 70 days, depending on weather. Hint: Use black plastic to warm soil and intensify heat around the plant. Learn more about Okra in our vegetable encyclopedia
	Cauliflower Start seedlings indoors ¼ to 1/2″ deep five to six weeks before last spring frost. Transplant into garden after frost. Spacing: one plant per sq. ft. Days to harvest: 50 to 80 days from transplant. Somewhat frost-hardy. Hints: Don't disturb roots when transplanting; keep evenly moist. Learn more about Cauliflower in our vegetable encyclopedia
	Tomatoes Plant seeds 1/4″ deep indoors, six to eight weeks before last frost Transplant into garden one to two weeks after last frost or when soil reaches 65 degrees F. Spacing: one plant per sq. ft. Grow early season crops nearby to allow more room later. Days to harvest: 55 to 100 days from transplanting, depending on variety. Not frost-hardy Hint: Remove lower leaves before planting and bury extra stem. Learn more about Tomatoes in our vegetable encyclopedia
	Summer Squash Plant seeds 3/4″ deep indoors or outdoors three weeks after last frost, or when soil is 70 degrees F. Transplant three weeks after last frost, or when soil is 70 degrees F. When picked frequently, plants will produce continuously until frost. Spacing: one plant per sq. ft. for bush varieties; two plants per sq. ft. for vining types growing on trellis. Days to harvest: 30 to 40 days from transplant; 40 to 50 from seed. Not frost-hardy. Hint: Start under garden fabric (row covers) to protect from insects. Learn more about Summer Squash in our vegetable encyclopedia

When cooking is fun again.....

It is very easy to resist going out :)

Trader Joe's organic whole wheat pasta with 6 cheese sauce with sliced off corn on the cob (we "put this up" last May) plus red and yellow bell peppers.

Cheap & Yummy breakfast

Trader Joe's whole wheat pancake mix, I think it was about 2 bucks. There are 4 batches per box.

I added dried raisins, mangos, pineapple, walnuts and a fresh banana to the mix and made these:

It made two breakfasts. I used water instead of milk, added an egg and a splash of EVOO along with the fruit and nuts. 50 + 10 + 10 + 25 + 25 = $1.10. Not too shabby.

Spending - Week Nine (Feb 26- Mar 4)

I'm quickly losing enthusiasm for these posts lol

Saturday - I bought gas (40.62), lunch (2.75), dinner (11) and drinks at a comedy club (25)
Sunday - I went to Trader Joes (75.14), Whole Food (16.84), bought dinner (11.78), group drinks at a party (48), kroger (18.47)
Monday - I bought gas (22.51), lunch (10.23), coffee (1.90), went to the asian market (61.05) & costco (255.36).
Tuesday - 5.27 groceries, 5.48 birthday flowers
Wed - gas, $21.43
Thurs - $22.35 on groceries for Natalie (she was sick, I got bland things and I bought stuff for mom)
Friday - zero

I was going to break stuff down my HBA and grocery, then presents and such but I just don't have that kind of time lol. I can guesstimate that I bought $50 worth of food gift items from various places (coffees, cooking oils, spices, jerky) so I'll knock that off of my mad money. This trip also drained a lot of gas from that fund but such is life. The main point is I'm tracking where my money is going, right? (right? lol)

Veggie-licious

Tonight was a no meat night for us. We had two dishes...

Rice, red lentils, tabasco and cheddar cheese. Simple, easy and tasty.

Dish two - fancy dish!
1 fresh head of cauliflower
2 pounds of fresh brussel sprouts
1 pound red potatoes
2 large shallots
1 apple (med size)
a cup of chicken broth
2-3 splashes of vinegar
butter

Shred the apple into the butter. Add the shallots, add vinegar, add chicken broth as needed. Caramelize. Trim brussel sprouts and cut the big ones in half. Cut the cauliflower into large hunks. Cut potatoes into wedge sizes. Cook until tender. Drain and toss in the caramelized mixture and coat. Add more chicken broth if needed.

It's not a cheap dish, I probably had $8 in it. But it makes a TON of food so we'll be having it with lunch and dinner over the next few days.

The leftover rice/lentils? I am getting ready to puree some fresh aldi tomatoes, my 2 cent jalapeno pepper (its so little lol, 99 cents a pound) and some onion to make salsa to add to the leftovers. Then I'll fry the corn shells and drape them over a glass while they are hot to make little taco cups and fill them. DD will love that :)

Tacos

What fun it is to cook now! I look at my stockpile and I'm like hmmm what today?

tacos!

The best corn tortillas in the world are at the stinky asian market in Nashville. They almost have a floral scent to them. They are FANTASTIC crisped up in pan before eating (which I learned tonight - the ones in my pic were not crisped and I scraped off the toppings and tried again).

In my food processor I threw in a handful of cilantro stems, half an onion, chili power, cumin, garlic, lemon and a roma tomato. I added about a pound of sliced raw chicken breast and let it rest for 2 days in the fridge. Cooking was a breeze, I just dumped it in a skillet.

And because I fed my boy and my Mom, there is just one taco left. That is SO exciting. With one adult, and one little kid in the house, we have a LOT of leftovers. I get so tired of them. Instead of ten meals this month - shoot - we might have eleven! lol

(I also cooked bell peppers and onions and added a ton of fresh cilantro.)

Planning our NYC Adventure

I normally vacation for 2 weeks in May. It's the perfect travel month, spring break is over and school isn't out yet. It is CHEAP! This is the last school-free year for us, so we are going out with a bang.

Towards the end of May is a week beach trip with my Mom. The first week of May is NYC with my boy. It's hard to balance 2 different people who want to travel!

I've been researching hotels like constantly for a month now. 2 beds, non smoking, under $200 a night....its been a little hard to locate! Especially the 2 bed part without having to pay a large 3rd person surcharge.

So we went over to Long Island City. There is a Sheratan opening just a few days before we arrive in NYC. It is a basic room with 2 beds, then entire hotel is non smoking and there won't be any bed bugs. It is also $1010 for 6 nights including taxes :) We will be 500 feet from a subway connection and the ride into Manhattan is an extra 5 minutes. I am pleased :)

Our train tickets are free because we signed up for Amtrak rewards. I bought theater tickets like last Sept, so those aren't included in this year's budget.

Want to see what we'll be doing? (Remember, Stephen pays for his own stuff.)
Statue of Liberty - $17
Top of Rock - $21
Central park Zoo - $19
Natural History Museum - Free (corporate passes - yay!)
Guggenheim Museum - Free (corporate passes - yay!)
NYC Aquarium - Free (corporate passes - yay!)
Met Art Museum - Free (corporate passes - yay!)
Modern Art Museum - Free (corporate passes - yay!)
NY Science Museum - Free (corporate passes - yay!)
Chinatown - dinner and walking around
Little Italy - we will grab lunch here since it's been reduced to a city block
Brooklyn Bridge - gonna walk it and take pictures
Wall Street - this is my thing - makes my little daytrading soul happy. I hope we are there on a day when C is doing well so I can take a pic of it on the ticker.
Wicked - bought last year
Manhattan Beach (sooooo excited, the aquarium is practically on the beach!)

All this, plus my share of the room, a subway pass and a train ticket for Natalie is a mere $657. That leaves $543 for food for 6 days and some small souvies.

I know big city folks are going to groan now but here goes - I think I'm taking some food with us.

Breakfast is not included. I've google mapped the area and I do not see fast food for breakfast anywhere. I am *this* close to buying a hot water pot to take, like what was in my rooms in China. I can take rolled oats and run them through the food processor to make them instant oats. I just bought tons of awesome dried fruit and nuts for it. A little hot water and tada! breakfast. The little pot is also something I can take on other roadtrips.

Another quandary....where are all the coffee pots in NYC? Why don't rooms have them? I've looked and looked and maybe I'm just missing them but I don't see any. I am *this* close to making some little coffee "tea" bags and bringing them along with our travel mugs.

Anyway, I am hunting down tasty cheap places to eat while we are there. If you have any suggestions please let me know :)

Nashville Grocery Shopping - Wowsa

I am waiting for all the charges to come through on my card. I think I spent about $420 on HBA and groceries this weekend. We visited Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Costco and Aldi.

I've been having cooking issues, that is why we've been going out so much. I needed variety, I needed something different. So I went a little nuts. Part of me was like nooooo don't do it! Then part of me was like its not the end of the world, buy your stupid groceries (those darn voices again). Instead of spending $15 on Chinese, I'll grab some of the chicken I cleaned and froze and I'll make a quick sauce with some of my new goodies and take care of that craving.

The bulk of what I bought is stuff I normally don't get. I am interested to see what sort of new things I can come up with :)

Please keep in mind, anything from Costco was like huge! The pictures are misleading you know? (and ignore the unfinished countertop, maybe I'll get that done in March).
25 pounds of rice for like 7 bucks. I love costco.

A kajillion craisins, 4 shaving gels, a dried fruit/nut medley, 2 pds brussel sprouts & coffee filters for like 2 years. (not pictured, a huge bag of trashbags and a new rice cooker).


1.5 liters of organic olive oil, 4.5 pds of raisins, 3 pds almonds, 2 pounds of jerky, 2 huge jars of baby dills, 50 ounces of kisses (the huge jars of dills were the same price as the little jars at home - we love them and I never buy them)
Some fruit/veggie juice I got because it looked good. Organic whole wheat pasta, organic maple syrup (big bucks), everyday spice, 2 pds organic fancy rice, 1 pd walnuts and a TJ bag

This is trader joes loot (in hind-site, I should have shopped at costco first)
9.2 pounds of whole bean coffee..heee heee heeeeee (4 teeny new bags of star bucks are going back to walmart- that $30 actually pays for 3 of the 4 bags above. Lesson learned - coffee at costco is CHEAP!)
This is also costo except my violets from kroger.
2 of the lemon juices are for my Mom (Costco). The bags are my whole foods bulk buys. Everything is organic. I got about 3 pounds of chick peas, some wheat berries, cheese snack crackers, popcorn, steel cut oats and black beans.
Asian market - cilantro, red bell peppers, ginger, shredded black mushrooms, red potatoes
Lots more red peppers. Hoisen sauce, sweet soy, regular soy, tahini & adobe (mom). Also a nice tray of shallots.
2 packs of the best smelling corn taco shells in the world. I have to subdivide them and freeze them. 1 pound total of shitake mushrooms (expensive!), 2 pds red lentils, 12 ounces of dried hominey (never bought this before, it has a soup recipe on the bag that sounded good) & 2 kids of rice noodles.
aldi, 99 cent tomatoes, 99 cent onions, cheap bananas, 3 peppers for 1.50, 2 pounds of carrots for a buck & I think the seasoning packets were 39 cents. I was in cheap food heaven.