Meal Planning

Another way we save money is to meal plan. This doesn't happen every week and there is not perfect way to do it. However, meal planning gives you a guide to follow throughout the week so you can hopefully avoid that last minute stop at the fast food restaurant!

There are several ways to do meal planning. Like I said there is no right or wrong way to do it. I personally just plan 1 meal a day for everyday of the week. Most time there is enough for leftovers, sometimes not. Either way at least having that one meal a day planned makes it easier for us.

Check out the post from Mom's Plan over HERE. She gives several different examples on how to meal plan and different idea's on how to do it.

A few of the subjects she touches on are

1. Assign a Meal to a Day of the Week
   
2. Make a Menu Plan Once a Month
3. Choose Your Menu Plan Based on What Is on Sale
4. Choose Your Menu Plan Based on What You Have in the Pantry

We have tried several of these. We find the one that works best for us is to choose our menu based on what is on sale. We have also occasionally done plans where we eat only out of our pantry for a week as well.

Making a menu plan for the month was one we tried and did not like. We only had to go to the grocery store once which was amazing! However, it was much harder to incorporate fresh foods and was something we were thrilled doing. We actually ended up spending more money on those months because we were trying to anticipate the little things that come up.

Do you menu plan? Which method do you use?
picture source

DIY Bubbles, Wands, and Blowers with Pie Birds, Buttons and Muddy Puddles

One of the blogs that I follow is guest posting today at HomeSpun Threads on how to make your own bubbles, wands and blowers as part of HomeSpun Threads' Summer Soiree.

There are a lot of other great ideas on how to have fun in the sun this summer with your little ones. This is so easy to do, and a very cost effective way to have fun with the little ones in the summers. She has a step by step instruction and picture's with each step! So go check it out! :)

What do you do in the summer to have fun with the kids AND save money while doing it?

Healthy SNACK * Protein PACKED

Unfortunately, I cannot take any credit for this amazing snack. I am doing my "simple" tone it up diet, and have been having troubles finding an afternoon snack. Mostly because I'm not a veggies person. I'm not suppose to have starch so this does go a little off of that, but I figured 1 TBL can't hurt anything!

Now, I'm not going to post the actual recipe, but this is where to find this amazing protein muffin.

I did make a FEW minor adjustments. I did use the applesauce instead of the pumpkin, because lets face it, there is no way I keep that stuff on hand. I also ended up using 1 TBL of mini chocolate chips because I didn't have the cocoa powder on hand. You could honestly get away with only 1 TSP if you aren't a huge chocolate person. Although, who isn't??

Anyway, this was seriously food-gasmic (borrowed this amazing word from fitnessista.com) mostly because it totally works here.

I did of course top it. There are a ton of different ways to top it. I chose almond butter because I LOVE it! You could also use agave syrup or pure maple syrup. I used a full serving of almond butter, but again you could probably get away with only 1 TBL to lower the calories. (which I will be doing next time for sure)

Without further ado, here is the picture. Mind you I made this in a cereal bowl and then put it on a plate. This was HUGE! Much bigger then I was expecting. PLUS very filling. I could have honestly been fine with only eating half. I even shared some with Madisyn and you all know how I like to share food ;)
Not the best picture, but DEEELISH! :)

Been too long!

Have you ever been speechless? I have! I always want to do such great blog posts that I can't seem to find that perfect one! Therefore letting days go between posts! Not anymore! Why you ask? Well, I'm hoping that some of you who read this will comment on some different things that interest you! That's right, tell me what you want to hear about. I am going to give away a zipper pouch from thirty-one gifts if I have at least 10 people respond! All your names will go into the drawing.

If you are at all interested in hosting a party or order let me know! Anyone who orders that mentions this post in the next 30 days will receive a FREE gift from me! It will be a 31 gifts item valued between $12-$50.

www.mythirtyone.com/32467

Idea's on Saving Money

Many of you have asked how we save money on things. Here are a few tips we use to save money.

* We often call companies and see if they are willing to give us discounts. A few that we save money with are:
Qwest: They already do bundling so we save quite a bit with them. We also call back every 3-6 months to see if there are any new promotions they are willing to give us.

Direct TV: While we bundle this with Qwest we can still call them and ask for separate discounts. This past week I called and we got a $10 off a month for a year. PLUS, we got free movie channels for six months.

Verizon: My husband qualifies for their employee discount so we receive an 18% discount per month on the primary line. Usually equaling 10-15 dollars a month.

** Coupons: I'm not as much of a couponer as when I first started out, but this still comes in very handy. The one thing I will not budge on is cereal. I will not buy cereal if it is more then a $1 a box. We go through a lot of cereal so when there are deals I stock up to last until the next sale.

***Now some of you might be asking what about saving for the kiddo's. We save ALL of our change. I'm a waitress as well at night so sometimes this might be more then the average families. We do however give the kids all the change for their piggy bank. About once a month we go to the bank and let them cash it in to put in their savings account. This usually equals anywhere between $50-$100 a month.

Those are just a few of the tips we do. There is another great article HERE from momsplans she quest posted about 3 ways to reduce expenses. Check it out if you are interested! :)

Free P & G coupons booklet!

I'm not sure that a lot of people really read my blog, but be sure to sign up over here for a coupon booklet with over $35 in coupons in it. It is completely free!

Hamburgers with a twist

I know I said I would not be blogging until I lost those few pesky pounds. However, I made a recipe that I can't wait to share with you!

I have been trying to find ways to add more veggies in with our meals. I've gone as far as steaming and pureeing carrots to put in our meatballs! I made the cheddar cheese broccoli soup a while back and it called for grated zucchini. I thought how fabulous would that be in a hamburger! Oh yes I did. Here is my new go to recipe for hamburgers.

2 pounds of hamburger
handful of grated carrots (I bought them like that)
1 zucchini, grated
salt/pepper
garlic (i use powder, but would have used fresh if I had it on hand)
1 tsp group cumin (I didn't measure I just did a small handful)
1/4 onion, grated

Put all into a bowl and dig in. Yes, get your hands dirty and get it all mixed together. This made 11 good size hamburgers for us. We made 5 for lunch today and froze 6. This would be another PERFECT freezer meal to make. Way easy!

One thing I want to say if you aren't a fan of carrots be very careful. There were obviously some spots that had more carrot taste then others. Also you can see the carrots, so if your kids don't like them I suggest pureeing them so its not as noticeable! We couldn't even really tell there was zucchini or onion in it. I'd say major success! Hope you all try it! :)