Days 1 - 11 {Making Do}

Day 1
Nothing too remarkable, we ate what we had and didn't make any purchases.

Day 2
I cooked a 20lb. turkey. This is one of those kitchen tasks I really do not enjoy, but yields protein for lots of meals and broth for several soups.  It makes a big mess of the kitchen and really takes all day. So I'm glad that is behind me, and that I don't have any more turkeys in the freezer to handle.  :)

Costco - $109.29
2 boxes of diapers (348 diapers), 1 box of wipes (1120 ct.), #10 can tomato sauce, 3 lbs. bananas, 104ct. dishwasher tabs
(Everything non-edible was in their coupon book, saving $19.50 off normal Costco prices. We were down to the last diaper.  I knew this would be a pressing need before this pantry challenge began and it will make the rest of the challenge more difficult, but such is life.)

Albertsons - $12.50
30 lbs. potatoes, 2 lbs. carrots, 1 bunch celery, 3 lbs. onions, 2 gallons milk

Day 3-5
We ate mostly according to the menu plan and did not make any purchases.  I was glad I had planned turkey noodle soup with the homemade broth and noodles I made as the weather has been super cold and a few of us are battling colds.  It was good to stay in and begin on a bunch of simple master bathroom improvements. I'm taking a slow and steady approach this time. 

Day 6
Chick-Fil-A - $3.50 - Four of us had a lunch date and used up a gift card we had received.
Bountiful Baskets - $68.00, to be picked up on Saturday
2 conventional baskets, 38 lb. box Minneola tangelos,  assorted tortilla pack (2 dozen small flour, 1 dozen large flour, 2 dozen small corn, 1 dozen medium whole wheat, 1 dozen medium flour)

Day 7
No purchases, though I did go out alone for dinner with my allowance after fixing dinner for the rest of the family. My kind husband knows I need time away sometimes.

Day 8
No purchases.  We are now getting low on milk, cheese and butter.  And we haven't had yogurt or rice since the challenge began.  The little bits of snack foods we had are gone, too.  Starting to feel the effects of this challenge.  I was working too late into the evening on our bathroom improvements.  Hooray!  Painting is done.  Flooring is now started.

Day 9
We are now deviating more from the menu plan, just to use leftovers up and not let them go to waste.  I also haven't made bread as much as I had planned, so meals involving bread have been switched to something else.  I gave each of the kids a haircut. I'm thankful we have not ever taken our kids for a haircut by a professional so the expectation has not been set.  The little ones really are not cooperative, but I doubt they'd do much better if I was spending $10-15/kid.
To use up the ends of some condiment bottles I made barbecue sauce.  We love the recipe here.

Day 10
I ordered some fun Curious George items from Zulily* for our little boy's birthday next month using a credit I had.  I think he is going to love the stuff and for just a few dollars out of pocket, that'll make us both happy.   I also went through Ebates* so I may get some change back.  I use Ebates all the time when I'm shopping online for cash back. (*referral links)

Costco -  $35.45
4 lbs. butter, 2 gallons milk, 3 dozen extra large eggs, 40 oz. bag organic tortilla chips, 2.5 lbs. Tillamook cheddar, 2 lbs. mozzarella
King Soopers - $13.23
3 gallons milk (1 organic), 32 oz. strawberry yogurt (a treat for the kids), 32 oz. yogurt (I needed a starter so I could make homemade again), loaf of sourdough bread, individual cup of yogurt (free)
Starbucks - used a coupon and gift card

Day 11
No purchases were made, but we picked up our Bountiful Baskets order. This week's conventional basket included yellow squash, broccoli, grape tomatoes, red pepper, onions, romaine, sweet potatoes, apples, grapes, pears, bananas, and mangoes.   And now our fridge is very, very full.

We also had company for dinner. I made shredded barbecue chicken sandwiches on homemade buns and a huge fruit salad.  Our friends offered to bring something and ended up bringing chips, carrots and dip and a chocolate cake.  No one went hungry.

Total spent for Days 1-11: $241.97
Ugh, that was what I had planned on spending for the whole month.  We'll just have to see how long our current provisions hold out. I'm glad to have a packed fridge with loads of produce. 

Menu Plan #1 {Making Do}

A key component in making do this month for us is taking stock of what we have on hand and working a menu plan.  A produce order pick-up won't be possible until the middle of the month, so the first couple weeks are really going to be made up of food we already have stocked.  Here goes.

W - 1/1 (easing in since it is a holiday)
B: bagels & cream cheese, apple slices
L: steak, baked potatoes, baked beans
D: beef & peppers with beans, tortillas, cheese & sour cream (sadly, we're already out of rice)
Snack for a gathering: caramel corn, fruit pizza (sugar cookie crust frozen, left from cut out cookies we made for Christmas)

Th - 1/2
B: homemade granola, apples
L: turkey & cheese biscuits, grapes
D: turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans
Prep: remove & portion meat for several meals (some to freezer), make broth

F - 1/3
B: homemade granola, apples
L: snack lunch - ham, fruit, crackers & cheese
D: turkey cheddar bake (spaghetti noodles + partial bags of frozen veg. + a roux)

S - 1/4
B: peach crisp (frozen peaches + the end of the granola)
L: leftovers
D: spaghetti & meatballs (sneak sweet potato into sauce), garlic breadsticks, frozen veg.
Prep: egg noodles for soup, batch of whole wheat bread

S - 1/5
B: w.w. toast, fruit
L: turkey noodle soup, crackers & cheese, homemade applesauce (freezer)
D: grilled cheese and/or snack dinner - popcorn, apples, etc.
Prep: make chocolate chip or chewy ginger cookies

M - 1/6
B: steel cut oats with blueberries
L: turkey sandwiches, apples, cookie
D: baked ham (freezer) & beans, cornbread, orange berry smoothies

T - 1/7
B: w.w. pancakes, apple cinnamon syrup (made a huge batch for teacher gifts and have lots leftover
L: leftovers or almond butter sandwiches
D: gourmet mac & cheese (freezer), broccoli

W - 1/8
B: pancakes, apples
L: pizza soup
D: saucy veg. beef (freezer) & garlic mashed potatoes
Prep: batch of whole wheat bread

Th - 1/9
B: cinnamon bread
L: chicken salad sandwiches
D: brat/veg/pasta skillet, apples

F - 1/10
B: pumpkin (freezer) w.w. pancakes
L: leftovers, homemade apple sauce (freezer)
D: homemade pizza

S - 1/11 - pick up produce and plan again
B: sausage, egg & potato casserole

Kitchen goals:
- clean cupboards & drawers, inside and out
- defrost chest freezer
- clear kitchen island and deal with all the paper so I can easily use that space for meal prep

Are you eating from the pantry this month?

A Month of Making Do

With Christmas behind us and a bit too much spending this season, it is time to scale back, use up what we have already purchased, and reestablish some good financial habits.  To that end, I'm challenging myself with a really low grocery budget for January. The goal is to spend no more than $240 for our family of 7 and not eat out at all. That figure includes all food, personal care items, paper products, and diapers.

Why?
- Because we've gotten sloppy in our spending and use of a credit card.  We pay it off in full each month, but still, it has become a little too easy to just swipe the card and forget it. 
- To become mindful again about the difference between needs and wants. The line has gotten a little blurry.
- To enjoy what we already have at our disposal and practice gratitude.
- To save from our normal budget to recover from Christmas expenses and set the tone for financial prudence for the new year.
- To get back into the habit of keeping careful records of expenses.  We've been budgeting about $500 per month for all the above expenses for about the last year but I want to know if that is a realistic number given our family size and the ages of our kids. 
- To practice some delayed gratification in our "I've-have-to-have-this-now" culture we live in.

How?
- With careful menu planning, limited shopping, and using up the ingredients and supplies we've already purchased.  Sometimes it is just good to deplete the stockpile to ensure that things don't go to waste.
- By doing without some things that we might really enjoy.  (Dr. Pepper, I'm looking at you.)
- By filling up some of the time I would have spent shopping on creative projects which I already have supplies for.

I'm up for the challenge, so away we go!

Diaper Box Decluttering

Our home is far from simplified and decluttered, but this one little thing is easy to do.  Every time we acquire a new big box, from diapers or apples or oranges or whatever else, I make it my goal to fill it up with things we don't love, need or use.  Then I throw it in the van and drop it off at the thrift store when I'm out for other errands.  This is nothing revolutionary, but I'm hoping some simple little baby steps in the right direction will produce results in due time.

Simple Kitchen Plan

Life has been really full in recent months and I have not been faithful with menu planning, though we've been eating okay and not eating out much at all. As a kindness to myself, I'm taking 15 minutes today to write up a meal plan to make things run a bit smoother in the kitchen.  Breakfasts will be heavy on oatmeal to use part of a 50 lb. bag of rolled oats I picked up from Sprouts last week. I don't have any more containers to store it in and a giant feed bag on my counter is not very convenient at all. Like many other areas of my homekeeping and life right now, too much stuff, not enough space. I'm looking forward to a pantry challenge in January to tackle some of this "problem" of overabundance.

11/11
B-steel cut oats with blueberries
L-packed lunches, out for 3 of us with a gift card
D-cheeseburger bake with whole wheat crust, curly fries, apple wedges

11/12
B-whole wheat toast, homemade yogurt, pears
L-ham & cheese paninis, oro blancos, cucumbers & dip
D-pepper beef tacos / taco salads
Dessert-Pumpkin bars

11/13
B-steel cut oats with frozen cherries, yogurt
L-hot dog baked in whole wheat dough, cucumbers & dip, apples
D-orange chicken, rice, steamed broccoli
Prep-make granola

11/14
B-granola, yogurt
L-leftovers, fresh fruit
D-barbecue baked beans with ham, green salad

11/15
B-granola or cereal, sliced apples
L-quesadillas or leftovers, fresh fruit
D-pizza, any remaining veggies from last basket
Prep-clean out fridge

11/16
B-whole wheat pancakes, sausage meatballs
L-gourmet mac & cheese (x4, 3 to freezer, 1 with ham), garlic breadsticks, green salad
D- beef roast, mashed potatoes & gravy, vegetables
Prep-stew, egg dish

11/17
B-potato ham & egg bake
L-beef stew (crockpot), garlic cheese biscuits
D-snack dinner: popcorn, apples, cheese, etc.

11/18
B-oatmeal with cherries, yogurt
L-picnic lunch TBD
D-shredded barbecue chicken sandwiches (crockpot), green beans 
Prep-bread & sandwich rolls

The Happy and the Hard

Lately

Happy
- My husband has a new job which is a great fit for his giftings with plenty of room to be challenged and grow professionally.
- We're having opportunities to see most members of our families this summer.
- Our son enjoyed a great season playing baseball this summer with excellent coaches. A coach can really set the whole tone of that experience and these men were top notch.
- Our little girl is walking.  That's bittersweet for this mama.  All our babies aren't really babies anymore.
- We're so thankful for our church community and looking forward to getting back to small group in the fall. 
- A dear friend is getting married this month after more than a decade of prayers that God would bring a husband. She is so happy.  Although I won't be able to make the wedding in Rwanda I think there will live streaming all around the world.  Looking forward to that!
- We're looking forward to fun family times next week.

Hard
- My husband took a statistics course this summer which turned out to be a massive amount of work and time, which was really difficult for all of us.
- The wide range of ages of our children is presenting more of a challenge as our big kids get more into activities.  Have you ever tried to keep a strong-willed 3-year-old from running off at a ball park for 2 hours?  Not fun. We also know that our big kids just don't get to do as much because of the little ones which gives way to feelings of guilt for me.  It seems other large families manage this, but I don't think we've found our groove yet.
- Trying to find balance in our budget for today and for the future.  We usually error on the side of not spending on fun activities today, but our kids are growing fast and it is starting to feel like sometimes you actually do have to spend money to make memories.
- Struggling...my own lack of self-esteem and confidence, feeling discouraged that I don't see the fruit of these intense years of parenting, feeling the need for a break from responsibilities but realizing that is just not possible right now.  Even 24 hours away could be very refreshing.   Since we started parenting almost 11 years ago, my husband and I have been away from the kids for 8 nights, and none of those have been in the last 5 years.  So I guess I'm just tired.

What is the happy and the hard in the spot you're in?

The Great Closet Clean-Out & 100 Piece Wardrobe

In an effort to simplify life in general, I decided I must face my generously-sized walk-in closet. I'm rather embarrassed to show you the before photos, but I do want to be real.  This space had become the depository for all kinds of things that didn't have any real home.  Outgrown baby clothes, unfinished craft projects, luggage, bed linens, extra storage containers, current baby clothes for a sweet girl who moved in with her sister months ago, mother and baby items that won't be used again by our family, etc.  I don't do well with undefined spaces, so the more types of things were put in there, the less I maintained order and the less mindful I was of my own stuff, mostly clothes.  So I took a Saturday and tackled the closet, hauling out everything, deep cleaning the space, finding more logical homes for things not related to my personal presentation.  That meant that I also took out every item of clothing I own and purged a lot.  My goal was to trim it down to 100 items. I've been greatly challenged by the book 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess  and the blog The Year of Less*, among other blogs, books and articles.  With  simplicity in mind, I listed out on paper all the pieces of my wardrobe that I was keeping.  Listing things out made me realize a few items I may need to add as well as some categories that are a little too abundant.

Why 100 items?
* I simply needed to put a limit on the number of clothes I own and needed a place to start.  For some people, 100 would be downright excessive and for others it would be way too minimal.
* I needed motivation to weed out the things I wasn't using because of poor fit, unflattering design or color and lack of function in my current life stage. Setting a limit allowed me to release these things more easily.
* I wanted to like my wardrobe better overall so I needed to get rid of the items I was just keeping because it felt wasteful to get rid of them.
* I hoped for more empty space so it could be easily maintained.
* Going forward, I want to be really mindful of what I bring in. Basically, I want to feel confident in the clothes I wear without giving it too much thought.

Did I meet my goals?  Yes, and no.
I did whittle my collection of clothing significantly, but my list of 100 pieces does not include scarves and such, swimwear or foundations.  My list does include items for all seasons, dresses, skirts, blouses, tops, pants, shorts, sweaters, coats, workout clothing and pajamas.  I'm no fashionista, but I don't think I'm any less stylish than before the purge. This experience has shifted my shopping habits and made me a lot more choosy about what I add.  Because the rest of our home really lacks storage, toiletries and luggage and one bin of sentimental baby items are still in that closet, but I'm okay with that. I feel more content with what I have and my closet is a calming retreat.

After 

one closet rod, one dresser and wire drawers for shoes

And my wedding dress box, too.  

There are still a lot of toiletries, but they are organized and easily accessible.

I could shuffle things a bit more and make room for a reading corner or a little crafting desk, but for now I'm just enjoying the empty space.  It feels like a breath of fresh air. 

* no longer active, but the archives are inspiring