Thursday, July 30, 2009

This Blog is on Hold

This blog is on hold until life events pan out.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Once a Year Shopping

Over on Frugal Hacks they posted an article about Shopping Once a Year. I wanted to give my thoughts about it. I had read the article that DL had read. It was about a couple that shopped only once a year for things that they could store. They didnt buy perishables in bulk of course but the idea is to stay out of the grocery stores and to save money by not spending it on the items that are impulse purchases. They started out slow and worked their way up to a year's worth of food.

My husband and I looked at the article and actually thought about trying it. We got so far as to write out the list of things that we use on a regular basis to see how much it would cost if we were to buy enough for the year. It would have been a little more than $1000, and it would have taken us a few months to gather the cash to buy all those things. I had also looked at the possibility of working our way up to the big once a year shopping trip. Shopping for one month at a time for three months, then for three months at a time, then six months, and then for one year.

We also looked at the fact that because we were still young, things would change drastically in a year. We only had one child at the time. There was always the possibility that we would have another child. There was always the possibility of our jobs not working out or having to move and having to start over again. Now granted this idea would work if it was just the job, but what would happen if we had to move to a smaller home (or across the country, as our hometown was 2000 miles away)? Then we would have been stuck with a lot of food and no where to put it.

Things like spices, canned goods, and cleaning supplies are good to have on hand, but I think that you could do just as well with coupons and get the things you need. People have been known to get a lot of items (enough to store for the year) for either very cheap or free by using coupons at the drugstores. It's just a matter of preference.

Personally, I like to buy a few items in bulk (because I have a large family now) to last a few months so Im not constantly in the store trying to get those items. Its not very fun to have to buy a box of pancake mix every time you want to make pancakes. So instead of buying that at the grocery store, I buy it at Sams Club and get a large bag of the mix to last me a month. (We really like pancakes here!)

What's your thoughts on Shopping Once a Year?

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Homesick






Im feeling just a wee bit homesick this week. I keep seeing pictures of my home and the town I lived in. Six years really is a long time to live somewhere. Essentially, I have lived one third of my life there. My sons have lived all their lives there. It was quite daunting to move back after such a long time away from my hometown. Im glad to be back and to have more people around me, but I long for the lush green of my Arkansas Summers.

I got just a glimpse of the beautiful color before we moved and was able to get a few pictures of it. So, inspired by this post by KimC, here are a few pictures for you. These pictures are off my front porch and they were taken at the end of April before it bloomed completely.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Menu Plan Monday

In my attempt to work the Weight Watchers plan, Im going to be posting my weekly menu here. Along with about half of the blogosphere! Im not the greatest at it yet but give a newbie a chance. :) So here it is:

Monday: Breakfast - Oatmeal and bananas, Dinner - Roast (crock pot) with veggies
Tuesday: Breakfast - Cereal and peaches, Dinner - Spaghetti with salad and bread
Wednesday: Breakfast - Oatmeal and fruit, Dinner - Sweet and Sour Chicken with veggies and rice
Thursday: Breakfast - Pancakes with applesauce and raisins, Dinner - Stew and homemade bread
Friday: Breakfast - Cereal and fruit, Dinner - Hamburgers with baked beans and salad

Im not including the weekend because it is never a solid schedule and I dont usually know what is happening until we are there.

Visit Orgjunkie for more menu's.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

29 Points

Thats how many I've got. I've decided to get on the bandwagon and start losing some weight. I've lost about 5lbs since we moved but that's only because I've been up moving around more. My sis-in-law had lost about 60lbs using weight watchers and so, having seen the success with my eyes, I am going to start as well. This is going to be an interesting journey. I hope that you will be my accountability. I will put up a ticker to show my progress each week, and hope that you will remind me when I get off track or encourage me when I'm doing good! Right now Im at about 210lbs (Isn't that scary!), and my goal is to lose 80lbs.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Told You So ...

I had mentioned before that I might open up an Etsy Shop. I've had it open for a while, as evidenced by the notation in my sidebar. However, I never really had anything in there until recently. Now that Im settled in the new place, I wanted to get my shop up and running. So I now have items in the shop with more to come. I have a better sidebar gadget so you can see what I have and possibly even click over to buy something (hint hint).