Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Tuesday,February review, and March goals

    
I was very pleased with February as far as my goals were concerned.  I was able to more than achieve them, but in the end was hit with a huge dental bill and other smaller bills that derailed my emergency fund.  It was also the slowest month of the year in the shop so that made it more difficult to not use the savings.  I also had problems with the flu and a little bit of the blues, that always come in the winter, when it is cold and dark.  Over all I am still very pleased with my progress.

     March will be much busier in the shop, so that will take care of many of the financial goals.  My first plan of attack for the month is to get all the bills paid and the emergency fund back.  Then I will work on everything else. It will be dentist, doctor, savings, in that order.  Then I will attack as much as possible the Home/sewer loan I am working on.  So far I am a head of schedule on this as far as pay off is concerned.  So I am feeling very good about the system I am using.  Every time I get a smaller bill paid off, I tell myself, you don't have to do that next month.  Sears is gone and I don't have my Aunt for another year.  I will have the dentist and doctor gone next month. I will have the emergency fund back up.I should have extra money for debt pay off.  All I can really concentrate on right now is paying off that Home/sewer loan.  I just can hardly wait to see the zero balance, I can feel it, I can anticipate it.  So exciting.


     I am trying to do the pantry challenge this month.  Just buying groceries that we will actually need.  Eating down the freezers and the stock items.  We normally spend about $400.00 on groceries and items for the house.  I have been able to cut this back significantly, by not stocking up on loss leaders and just planning meals from what I have here already.

     To night we are having chicken enchiladas.  I have the tortillas, the chicken, the soup, the chilies and the cheese already in stock.  I don't have to buy anything. I have enough salad fixings for two more days. All of the ingredients for the enchiladas I bought at rock bottom prices making a huge pan of these (enough for 2 meals) will cost under $3.50
Tortillas        $2.50 for 24 (save 1/2 for next time)  so $1.25
Cheese          $5.00 large two lb bag shredded will use 1/4 bag  so $1.25
Soup              .50 can on sale
chilies            .34 on sale




    Tomorrow we will have spaghetti, salad and I will make some french bread.  Everything is here.
I made a huge pot of sauce a week or so ago and froze portions.  I used the last of my .99 cent burger, free onions, peppers frozen from garden, my home canned tomatoes and one large can of tomato paste.  Then add pasta of your choice that you pay .49 a lb for on sale.  Make your bread two large loaves for .50, add a salad.

     We can eat like this for a long time without spending very much at the grocery store.  Let me tell you I have seen a real difference in how much money is left over at the end of the month that I can sock toward the debt.  This works my friends, try it!

Have a great and productive day staying positive while you are in the negative.

Kim
     A well stocked pantry and freezer is a huge savings, for anyone who is willing to cook.


Personally I love to cook, just don't really like the clean up part.  I also love to see what meals I can knock together, with what I have on hand.     

12 comments:

  1. I love to cook, too. Often, I just look to see what there is to cook. Today, I have two chicken breasts that had to come out of the freezer to put four containers of frozen yogurt. Don't laugh or snort at my frozen yogurt taking precedence over meat in the freezer. Meat needs to be thawed, but yogurt just won't do when thawed. I did buy field peas today, but there is slaw made and frozen corn I cut off the cob.

    I don't know how you got anything done with being so ill and then having SAD. I am rooting for you.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Well my mantra has always been if you can breath you can do something.

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  2. HI my friend! You are doing well keeping focused on your goals. I get SAD too and it makes it hard to be motivated. Luckily the sun is out today, so that has been a huge lift to my spirits. I like to do that cook once and eat many times off it thing too. I have an elk roast thawing that I will throw into the Instant Pot later today for dinner. It should give us lots of meat along with broth. I'll throw some potatoes, carrots, onions and celery in with it too for the last 10 minutes or so to cook. I'm thinking the broth will make a delicious soup with some of the meat, veggies and noodles for my hubby.

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    1. I like to put a package of onion soup mix in with an elk roast and then cook until it falls apart. I serve it with french dip tolls. Like a french dip. So good.

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  3. So glad for you that March has come and the flu has gone. Boy tell me about those medical bills. I just got smacked in the face with a pretty steep one today. Nothing t do but have the procedure and pay up.
    Do you have a huge increase at prom time? I figured alterations would be abundant then followed by wedding season. Maybe you can make some huge inroads at that time.
    I am trying to find a way to capitalize on my huge skill set (none) to generate some income. It seems no ones needs to hire a professional at smart ass retorts.

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    1. Well you and Sluggy could team up. Who wants to be the straight guy? You can cook for people, or you could teach piano.

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  4. Since I have been a stay at home grandma, I have been cooking for most meals. It is empowering to be able to use what we have on hand. For years, while I was working full time, I cooked, but it was hit or miss. We ate out.... A Lot.

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    1. I think our whole culture eats out alot. I worry about the generation of fast food eaters that crave the chemical laden foods. Do you ever just crave a McD's cheeseburger? I know I do.

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    2. Absolutely! And I tracked our eating out versus staying home for the first week in March...uh.... we ate out three times. Well, definitely room for improvement.

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  5. Hope you save lots of $$ with eating down the pantry & freezer. I'm trying to save $$ on groceries this month too by using my points at the grocery store. I used $90 worth of points on a $113 bill on Monday and hope to only buy fresh produce for the next couple of weeks.

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    1. We don't have any kind of a point system here, I wish we did. I am only buying dairy and fresh things.

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