SH Day 4- 9 Long Hours!

First, the kids forgot to wake up in time to catch the bus.

Next are dentist and doctor's appointments.

Then we decided to tackle needed materials for our V-Day project (which I will reveal, after V-day, of course!). We needed lumber, a piece of 4x4 to be specific. One piece. You would think that it would be quite easy to go down to your local hardware store and check it off your list. Nooooooo!

a) There was too much splitting and cracking on each piece.
b) The inventory is too low for any decent choices.
c) Neither of us bothered to ask why the inventory's too low.
d) Project needed revision two other times because your hubby's coming up with tools to buy for a "glue and cut" project you had originally.
e) Only one store carries untreated lumber in three cities!
f) You find out "e" after you waste gas going to other cities.
g) You end up at the first store buying the exact same things in your cart 5 hours ago!

Yes, folks... we got the materials, now the question is, will we have the time to finish it by day before V-day since said holiday is on Sunday? (cross your fingers!)

LUNCH was totally FREE- The kids brought lunch from home or got FREE school lunch while Mr. Man and I dined at Red Lobster (ya posh,huh?) using our birthday giftcards from his parents! (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) We shared a salad before and a gooey slice of chocolate cake after our surf and turf fare. Plus, we portioned the cards for two lunches! Yay, another FREE lunch soon for us!

Mutual was tonight, and we ended picking up all three kids from school as well. The road was our home today, thank goodness no road incidents to bother with. (though there certainly were a lot of "rain" novice drivers out!)

Ok, onto some inexpensive dinner segment:

Last night, I started to make Tinola, a Filipino chicken dish with broth, ginger, and pepper leaves.

Last week, I got the drumstick family pack- it had 18 in it for exactly $7.00

I used:
7 Drumsticks----------------------------------$2.72
1/4 Onion, 1 lb. head (H-Mart,.39/lb)----------.10
1 Pepper Leaves, frozen (H-Mar, 2.99)------$2.99
4 cups Jasmine rice (Costco,50lb., abt $22, Dec)-FREE
Spices and water- FREE

$2.72 + .10 + $2.99 = $5.81 / 5 = $1.16 a plate! (And we had seconds with just rice and broth!)

The best part, all of our dinners, we've had enough leftovers that fed at least two for lunch or late snack!

If you add the cost of the rice, 4 cups (typical amount used) is about 2 lbs, so...
.44 a pound x 2 = 88 cents only to feed 5 people with enough leftover for one person for lunch the next day.

Food Budget Trick: I don't use a lot of meat in feeding my family, so I end up portioning it through small cuts and smaller amounts before it hits the freezer. If a recipe calls for a pound of red meat, I decide how much less meat I want to use. Normally, 1/4 to 1/2 lb. is enough to feed us and have some for the next day.

Lesson learned today, don't use lumber for any small projects. *sigh* :-D

SH Day 1- It's Sunday!

Hello... Today marks the day that we embark on our 2nd attempt at NOT BUYING ANYTHING WE DO NOT NEED. We upped it from 10 days to 14 days from our first and very successful, attempt. We even gave it an official name, SHOPPING HIATUS. Cool,huh? Which means, no eating out, no grocery shopping for just good deals, no shopping for anything that can wait. If we can make it, we make it. We do without and we wait!

Since it's Sunday, it was an easy start not to get anything... Let's see how it goes. And since I'm not feeling so hot either (dizzy and "jelly" legs), I think the kids can manage rummaging through the fridge for food.

Can we survive 14 days without caving in for that "one shiny bauble" in an ad?

Well, I hope so! Wish us luck! This time, our incentive is to add what we'll save, to our Christmas Fund aka January Shopping Spree!

Did I tell you about that? Our "Christmas fund" is saving $1 a day, or 20 cents per person per day, for a total of $1 a day for our Shopping Spree. This way, we know that everyone saved for that one "want" they'll find in the store when we go. That's $1 a day starting Jan 1-Dec 31. Then we portion it this way: Lunch while out shopping, 1-3 Family gifts and equally divided amount for individual gifts. (When we do this, we bring our own snacks, beverage and coupons to save on food, too! It's a whole day affair and we end it with a rental to watch together at home.) Easy enough, right? Right!

So far, the last two years of this tactic, totally panned out since we were also armed with the grands' giftcards from Christmas. :-)