Spending Freeze - What we did and How we "survived"

Darryl and I put ourselves on a self-imposed spending freeze somewhere around mid-July.  Now, this isn't the first time I've done this but we did it differently this time.  A little background.  I've read many blog posts and articles about taking a break from spending and they all have had great ideas, hints, and strategies.  Everyone has a different take though.  Some people set a specific budget for things like groceries and, if they hit the last week of the month and have $2.00 left, they survive on $2.00.  That's not for us.  Instead our spending freeze was just that - spend nothing on anything that isn't 100% necessary.  It also meant using up some food in the fridge/freezer to keep the grocery budget down; not going anywhere to keep the gas budget down; not eating out to keep the unbudgeted spending down.  I think you get the idea.

So why did we do this?  Here are some key reasons:
1) We chose to go camping once a month this summer.  Camping costs money.  I will say that our last camping trip in July was the cheapest camping trip we've ever done.  The campground offered so much to do (swimming, playgrounds, bike riding) that we never left the campground which meant no eating out or stops at overpriced ice cream shops.  Instead we ate the food we brought, enjoyed the campground, enjoyed the campfire, and treated ourselves to an ice cream bar from the camp store.  BUT, camping still costs money.

2) Loss of Income.  This came in two parts.  One, the above mentioned camping.  Darryl is self employed and I babysit so neither one of us gets vacation days which means when we take a day off we don't get paid.  Yes, I planned for this but it still hits the budget :-)  Two, Taxi Driving usually takes a hit in the summer.  We are aware of that after this many years but, in the past few years, July has been profitable.  This is because the drivers have to renew their licenses by the end of June and normally many drivers miss the cut off which means instead of 40 cabs on the road, there might only be 15 for at least 1/2 the month.  Well, this month, that didn't happen so we've been running behind average.  Added to that are things like a root canal for Darryl and car repairs on Darryl's car . .well, you can see what happens!

3) Self Control - I mentioned in a previous post how easy it is to go out to eat or just "grab" something.  A spending freeze breaks the habit on all that spending.  From dinner out to buying books (for my Kindle) at the drop of a hat.

Our original goal was just the last two weeks in July in order to try and catch up a little but, it was such a good test that we decided to carry it through into August. Plus, since July was so extremely tight, we need to continue to work to catch up! 

July went really well.  We ate at home, and didn't buy anything unplanned without some serious thought.  Our pool pump died during the third week of July.  We have a small Intex Inflatable Ring pool so it could survive without a pump for a little while but we noticed it was starting to turn green so we knew we couldn't wait.  Thankfully the pump was already marked down at Meijer so it didn't break the bank :-)  We had planned to attend the Ionia Free Fair and attend we did!  We knew ahead of time about what we would spend and we stuck to that budget.  The boys aren't into Fair Food yet so that saved us a lot of money.  I took water/Juice Boxes in a small cooler and other than getting Josh a $1.00 ice cream cone we spend no money on food.  Instead, we went to McDonald's after the fair and got us all a good snack for 1/4 of what food would have cost at the fair.

August.  Besides using the freeze to help us catch up a little on some bills there are a few other items on the list that have to be taken care of.  Darryl has his last (hopefully) dentist appointment for his Root Canal and we need to pay that off; We are signing the boys up for Tae Kwon Do through our Local Homeschool group which requires a very small fee; Of course, we are camping near the end of the month so we have to put money aside to finish paying for our site and for a couple day outings on this trip.  I have one other activity I really want to take the boys to at the end of the month but, that will all depend on funds.  I have quite a few things I'm working on selling on our Local Garage Sale Facebook site which will be used to help with these out of budget items.  Our main goal in August is to end the month ahead so that as we enter September we can begin saving for Birthdays and Christmas! 

What We're Eating - Shrimp Tacos

Shrimp Tacos
adapted from The Cooking Jar
and The Pioneer Woman 

As you probably know from reading this blog, we love Tacos.  A few weeks ago I found a recipe for Honey Garlic Shrimp and was going to make it but it never happened.  In trying to save some moeny at the store, I've been using up food in the freezer so, for Taco night, instead of buying meat, I decided to use the recipe but make it into Tacos.  I then went in search of a recipe for the topping and found a great Shrimp taco Recipe over at Pioneer Woman - I used her coleslaw and Pico de Gallo recipe.  This recipe was a huge hit with even Josh :-)  He asked me the following day if I had any of that shrimp left because he loved it so much! 

Ingredients

• 1 lb. shrimp, skin off and tail on

Sauce:

• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon ginger, minced
• 4 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

 

Instructions

1. Combine the sauce ingredients and divide into half
2. Marinate the shrimp with half of the sauce for 15-30 minutes. Discard marinade
3. Over medium high heat, pan sear the shrimp on both sides in batches of 2 until browned, about 1 minute per side
4. Using tongs, rub the shrimp into the caramelized bits on the bottom of the pan
5. Dish and serve hot drizzled with the remaining sauce

** To get the recipes from Pioneer Woman, just click HERE!


 

Teaching Tuesdays - Look what Arrived!

So this arrived this week:

What is it?  School!  Our computer arrived followed by a box of school stuff for Josh and a box for Nate.  We are all very excited! 

We are now waiting for the delivery of two desks on Friday then I will set up their new school area.  The desks are great - one is a desk that was my mom's and then has been passed on through several of us (I used it through 4 years of college in my dorm room) and now gets to be used by my kids.  The second is one my mom picked up at a garage sale a friend was having.  I can't wait to get their little desks all set up!

Make It Monday - Strawberry Shortcake Scones

I love Facebook for many reasons but one of those reasons is that friends post recipes that they find and either want to try or, even better, have already tried!  I mean, whats better than a recipe tried by a friend who you trust to actually have tastebuds :-)  So, when I saw a friend post this recipe for Strawberry Shortcake Scones (adapted from Very Culinary) I knew I wanted to try them.  Originally I was going to make them for our camping trip a few weeks ago but I ran out of time to get them made so one day last week, on a whim because there was nothing sweet in the house to eat, I made a batch. 

They turned out pretty good.  A few things - They were actually better cold rather than still really warm.  There is something about the glaze that adds a lot of flavor once it had hardened.  They are even better the second day, heated up in the microwave for just about 20 seconds.  The dough, at least from my experience, was a lot looser than other scone dough I've worked with so I'm not sure if that was just caused by the juice in the strawberries or if I needed to add more flour.  They still cooked up well.  Also, I never, hardly ever have half and half in my fridge so I just used the fat free milk that is always there :-)

Here's a recipe for you to try :-)  These would actually be great to take to a brunch because, as I stated, they are better cold/at room temperature.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 12 strawberries, hulled and diced
• 3/4 cup half and half

For the glaze

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add butter and cut in with a pastry blender (or your hands) until mixture resembles crumbs.
3. Toss in strawberries and coat lightly with the flour mixture. Add half and half and fold together gently until the mixture just begins to come together and form a soft dough. (Do not knead or over mix the dough.)
4. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a 1-inch thick rectangle. With a sharp knife, cut the rectangle into 6 squares, then cut the squares on the diagonal to form 12 triangles. Place scones on prepared baking sheet and bake 16-18 minutes or until cooked through and golden.
5. Place a sheet of parchment on a work surface, then place a cooling rack over top of parchment. Remove scones from pan to cooling rack. Cool about 10 minutes.
6. In the meantime, make glaze by whisking together powdered sugar, vanilla, and half and half until smooth. (If glaze is too thick, add a bit more cream. If it’s too thin, add more powdered sugar.)
7. Generously drizzle scones with the glaze. (Glaze will firm up when scones are completely cool.) Eat and enjoy!

Weekly Menu - It's August

So, this is the end of our self-inflicted spending freeze and it's gone very well.  I'll share details for later but, ready, we aren't stopping just because it's August.  The freeze will continue  . .  my goal is the month of August :-)  So, with that being said, this weeks Menu is B.O.R.I.N.G. because the grocery budget is near its end for the month :-)

Saturday - I've been enjoying making various homemade pizzas the last few weeks so I'll continue :-)

Sunday - Pork Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Corn and Rolls

Monday - Chicken Thighs, Amish Butter Noodles (Josh's Request), Green Beans, Homemade Bread.

Tuesday - Pork Chops on the Grill, Roasted Zucchini, Fried Rice and Rolls.

Wednesday - Chicken on the Grill, Mac and Cheese, Fried Zucchini and Rolls

Thursday -  Ham and Scalloped Potatoes in the Crock pot (I didn't end up making this last week), Applesauce, and biscuits

Friday - Tacos of course :-)

July Goals and Accomplishments

You may remember (or probably not HA) That I had one main goal in July and that was to clean out the basement.  I am happy to report that I accomplished that goal (almost!)!  And, well, even a little more!

1) I emptied all of the containers and "junk" from the basement into the garage and set up a sorting station where I sorted stuff out to either keep it, sell it, or give it away (oh, and trash it!).  I am happy to report that I threw out about 8 bags of trash and took about 4 boxes to Good Will and have a good box worth of stuff to try and sell.  I took back into the basement about 1/4 of what went out.  The basement is clean, organized and everything has a home.  Now, I'm about 95% done but need to finish up stuff in the garage - we ended up with a 90 degree week so I focused more on the inside than stuff that was outside!

2) Thanks to a very hot week this week, I spent more of my "basement time" working on totally cleaning/organizing the "other" side of the basement too.  This allowed me to accomplish a lot more than planned.

3) I have sold a few things.  I'd like to sell more.

4) I also focused on things in other rooms too.  I cleaned out and cleaned the entire kitchen from top to bottom including cleaning out some things we didn't use/need.  I cleaned the entire bathroom too and cleaned out a lot of stuff that has been stuck back in cupboards since we moved here :-)  Plus our bedroom got a nice deep clean and I totally cleaned out the playroom and that included getting some toys the boys have truly outgrown out of the bins!

Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak

Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak
adapted from Side Tracked Sarah

I have put my crock pot to good use this summer.  It's been a great way to keep the kitchen cooler yet have some great food.  We are big comfort food eaters so this recipe for Salisbury Steak fits the bill.  It was really yummy and I will make it again . . .in the middle of winter.  HA  It's really not a summer recipe ;-) 

• 2 Pounds lean ground beef
• 1 Envelope of Onion Soup Mix
• 1/2 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs (can use crushed crackers if you prefer)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 Cup milk
•  Flour (enough to dip your patties into)
• 2 Cans cream of mushroom soup (or use cream of chicken, like I did)
• 1 Package Au Jus mix

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together beef, onion  soup mix, bread crumbs, egg, and milk.
2. Form beef mixture into 8 patties.
3. Dredge the patties in flour to coat
4. Brown the patties on both sides (You don’t have to fully cook them if you don’t want to since they’ll be cooking for 4 or more hours in the slow cooker, too)
5. Place the browned patties into the slow cooker, layering them if you need to
6. In a medium bowl, prepare the Au Juis mixture according to package instructions.
7. Mix in both cans of cream soup
8. Pour the mixture over the patties.
9. Cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours, or until beef is done.