No Spend September thoughts & my meal plan

Have you heard of no-spend September?

I came across a blog posted written about it and then I went and youtube searched it: so many people do this! It’s genius really, lots of people have just spent money on getting their kids back into school with new clothes, supplies, and school fees and this helps get family’s back on track before the holidays come rolling in!

Everyone does it a bit different, but from what I saw mostly people:
-still pay all of their normal bills
-still put gas in their vehicles
-either lower their monthly grocery budget by $100 (say, $400 vs the normal $500) OR they only buy $100 worth of groceries every week.

and DON’T do the following:
-no drive through or eating out AT ALL the WHOLE month. (anyone else guilty more than they’d like to admit) *raising hand*
-no “fun” activities that COST money, of course free doesn’t count.
-no going to target (for us it’s Lowed!)  without a list and buy $150 worth of stuff you really, truly didn’t NEED at this moment.

I cannot remember who now that I’m writing this, say they do this twice a year now. They do a no spend  September and also one in January .. SO smart!

Although we aren’t necessarily doing a no spend September we are focusing on getting some debt paid. The Mr. has been working some overtime so we are making sure that isn’t just spend on random-ness! .. and I have made it a goal to spend $100 a week on groceries this month. I plan meals, but I really don’t stick to a “Monday is this” “Tuesday we are having this” strict schedule.. it’s more of a list and then I make what I feel like having, or cooking 😉

Breakfast:

banana muffins and smoothies
pancakes with PB and bananas, milk
cereal
egg sandwich- egg, cheese, ham on an English muffin
baked oatmeal

Lunches:
leftovers
sandwiches (usually PB& jelly)
homemade ham and cheese hot pockets

Dinner:
chili
tomato soup and grilled cheese
beef stroganoff, roasted carrots
nachos- beans, rice, lettuce, greek yogurt, black olives, avocado, salsa
chicken, rice, and a veggie
pizza – homemade

Happy Monday friends!

have you heard of No Spend September? if you’ve done it let me know how it worked out!?!!

Let’s play catch up!

Well, hello…. again.

I swear I’m committing to blogging. I kind of need this, for me. Back in the day I use to scrapbook and journal but the kids have taken over my life 🙂 But I’m in such a rich season of life that I don’t want to forget it all.

I also have a lot of people messaging me about hubby and I’s diy projects, that I thought a blog would be a great place to reference and look back on. …

If you don’t follow me on Instagram, you should 🙂 I post lots of our projects, life bits and such. Click HERE for my Instagram or search findingfaithsfuture.

Life:

*We started our 2nd year of homeschooling! We are 3 weeks in and really loving it. I feel more organized thanks to hubby’s great idea of building a table for us..  honestly it wasn’t suppose to be so LARGE but, go big, right? I have tons of pictures of the kids sitting, leaning and playing on it. BEST.IDEA.EVER.

* Baby #4 is on the way! I’ve had a rough first trimester and but thankful most of my symptoms are gone!. Coming in Febraury <3

*Lots of house projects still are happening.. Currently trying to get the interior doors sanded, primed, and painted {dark grey}. Post to come on the details and how to! 

Business:

      

                 If you don’t know I have an etsy shop!! I do watercolor art & quotes, phone cases (with my art) , and coming soon: woodburning projects! … Gosh, I love it ALL. It’s a good creative outlet for ME. You can check out my etsy shop HERE, FB page HERE, and I always post sneak peeks on IG too!          

I’m excited to get this blog up and running! I’m even working to get a blog design done. #incentive

Talk to you soon!

Grocery Challenge

Like a lot of wife/mom’s I am the primary grocery shopper.
Okay, actually if I let my husband shop we would be broke and hungry 😉  I kid. Kind of.

We have been talking a lot lately about getting back on the debt free road. Since buying the house last year and so many projects we’ve kind of fallen off track. Like we heard on a Dave Ramsey talk show session this last weekend  “we are letting our money flow out of our hands like a sieve. ” And I have to admit our grocery money is all over the place.

Problems:

1. Multiple grocery trips (I do menu plan but sometimes we go with what we are hungry for vs what I’ve already planned out and therefore are running to the store more times than needed).
2. Out to eat. Which is partly my fault for not having food prepped. Naturally we are on the go a lot and ended up ‘losing track of the time.’

Solutions:

1. Decided on a GROCERY budget and keep receipts…to explain: I get a certain amount each month and out of that I use it for everything- groceries, amazon, out to eat, art supplies, etc.
2. Meal prep. Especially for the weekend.
3. Continue meal planning – with at least 2 ‘extra’ meals to switch out if needed.
4. Freezer cooking .
5. Costco.

One box of these at Kroger runs $5-6.
I bought this box at Costco (=6 Kroger boxes) for $10.99

I need to keep myself accountable so I’m typing it out here 🙂  Happy to have anyone join in if you need the challenge too, or share your meal plan in the comments.

Do you have a grocery budget? What is it and how many people are in your family?

Is this thing on?

Well, hello there!

So much is happening I don’t where to start!

I created an about me page HERE to tell a little back story.

Current info:

Calvin and I got married last October on our 7 year anniversary, just us and the kids!

Kids: 3 currently! Bella is 6, Ashton 4, and Melanie is about to turn 2 this month.

Pets: We bought a German Shepard and name her Ember last fall.

We just bought a house last year and already want to buy some land and have a homestead!

First year garden adventures!