Because of our upcoming move we are going on a spending freeze for the month of September!Like most all families, there have been hard months for us of course. I remember the first month I stayed home when we went from 2 incomes to 1, (and we had added a child), Adam called and said, "We have $80, do not spend another dime!"
Well we all are forced to spend-no-more-or-else at some time, but this is an on purpose financial freeze. We want to wisely save as much as we can in the next 4 weeks, so we can use the money we save in other areas.
While moving this month, we know things are going to pop up that need fixing or replacing. Could be a little, could be a lot, and we want to be prepared.
And we don't want something to arise in which we have to say, "Oh, no, we just spent all our extra money.. cannot buy light bulbs this month."
We also want to have the house cleaned professionally. This is not for everyone, but our new house was built in 1965 and has been setting empty for 15 months. I do not have the energy to pack our house, then clean our new house and unpack our new house. I know my limits and I am willing to save in some areas to spend in this area.
AND *nerd alert* the first week of Oct is one of our family traditions- eating dinner at the Tulsa State Fair. For us, it is about the food, not the rides, but this dinner is worth saving for!
We plan to do this in many ways. One is by only eating at home for the month. No lunches out for Adam at work, no lunch out after church for the family, no purchasing little odds/ends that we need, a total and complete freeze. We obviously will have to buy gas, and if I can get away with not buying more milk, fruit or veggies, I will be able to stay away from shopping all-together. We are also cancelling cable and made the switch to using minute cell phones instead of a plan. (Wow that savings was a shocker.) I am so curious about how much we will save not buying one single thing this month?? Have you ever done this?
Here is our menu for the month. I have never done a monthly menu before, I usually do every 2 weeks worth of groceries/menu, but it seemed necessary to take inventory of what we had and go with it.
Our menu does not include two daily snacks, veggies with meals or the usual morning fruit shake. Nor does this include our sweets. We plan on a few of these things: Puppy chow, homemade ice cream, nutella on anything, baked cinnamon apples and baklava.
Most items are homemade (like pizza pockets, sandwich bread or waffles from scratch), a few things are packaged, like the cheese ravioli. But in general, we shoot for scratch. (Maybe that is the title for my future food blog- Shoot for Scratch. Hmmm. We mainly to this to be healthy and for better taste.)
Menu:
1. Oatmeal- Cheese Nachos w/beans- Eggplant Parm
2. Quiche- Grilled cheese- Crock Pot Green chicken wraps
3. Biscuits and gravy- grilled chicken salad- pizza pockets (freeze 1/2)
4. Donuts*- pulled pork (freeze 1/2)- pasta w/cauliflower
5. Oatmeal- Eggrolls and rice- Baked potato w/ chili (freeze 1/2)
6. Pancakes- Pressed Sandwiches- Coconut chicken
7. Cereal- beanie weenies- Sum Hop Day @ Incredible Pizza*
8. Banana bread- Sandwiches-Lasagna (freeze 1/2)
9. P.B. Granola bars- Ravioli- Leftover Thursday Dinner
10. Eggs and sausage- Cucumber sandwiches- sloppy joes
11. Waffles- Chicken Salad- Ham and Egg breakfast for dinner
12. Greek yogurt w/fruit- Mac & Cheese w/fish-sticks- Jambalaya
13. Quiche- Leftover Lunch- Sundried Tomato Pasta
14. Cereal- Grilled Cheese- Chicken and Dumplings
15. Oatmeal- Ramen- Tacos
16. Breakfast pizza- Veggie lunch- Leftover Thursday
17. Waffles- Grilled chicken- Chili
18. Yogurt parfait- Pigs in a blanket- Chicken Tikki
19. P.B. Toast w/honey- Egg and Sausage biscuits- Nacho Bar
20. Banana muffins- leftover lunch- Turkey Burgers
21. Pancakes- Bean burritos- Cornbread w/ ham and beans
22. Breakfast pizza- Tuna sandwich- Spaghetti w/ turkeyballs
23. French Toast- Chicken Casadillas- Leftover Thursday
24. Cereal- Pulled pork- Chicken pot pie
25. Fruit salad- bacon wrapped chicken- Baked potato soup
26. P.B. Granola Bars- Can soup lunch- Ranch chicken and carrots
27. Egg and Bacon- Leftover lunch- Naan Pizzas
28. Cereal- Ramen- Lasagna
29. Waffles- pizza pockets- Pot stickers
30. Oatmeal- Beanie weenies- Leftover Thursday
*There are two things on this menu that we are going out for... it is the donuts and Incredible Pizza. My father is coming into town from Atlanta to meet Miss Beautiful and see our new house. We have a (once a month) family tradition of Saturday morning donuts. We may go ahead and do this with him, not sure. We want too celebrate, yet want to do the whole month too. But her Sum Hop Day (Avi Joy's fourth Forever family day) must be celebrated. She has chosen I.P. the last 3 years.
In making this menu I realized many things about us. We eat a lot of chicken for one and there is not too much variety in ways of fish/seafood and I can see we love breakfast foods!
I also do not cook with red meat. I use varieties of turkey instead. Turkey hot dogs, turkey sausage, Italian turkey, turkey pepperoni for the pizza pockets... all very good!
Beautiful made a fun calendar for us to X off each day. I already look forward to that!
A countdown to moving and a daily reward for saving.
And since we are on a new kick, here is a picture of something new. Think this is in another country?? No, sadly, this idol has been newly built, 3 miles from my current house. It is built between the Hindu temple and Buddhist temple right next to where we take Vietnamese lessons. I could see it a mile away. Made my heart so sad.
"But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them." Psalm 115: 4-8
The Perryman's
