On Friday I sat down to pay the bills, something I do each payday. I both love and hate payday. I love seeing that we have earned paychecks. I HATE paying out the money and watching the number slowly decrease in the checking account. And this week I hated it more because I had to borrow from savings and I hate taking money from savings.
After paying our bills I resolved again to cut down our spending. We do not live above our means but at the same time we are not saving nearly as much as we can. In an effort to cut down on our bills I am going to try and make as many of my meals as possible this week from our pantry.
I have tried to do this before, and I failed miserably. But this time I have an added incentive to stick with the plan- my paychecks from my winter tutoring job have ended. I am tutoring a few hours a week for the next month but the paychecks are much smaller. Because I plan our yearly budget around my total income I make sure to put money into savings in the winter to cover the summer months, but I still HATE to take money from savings. In addition, Jon is not working summer school this year. So again, while we planned for it and put more into savings, my mission is to take as little from savings as possible. This means spending less.
A simple way to do that is to cut down on our groceries. Our csa started last week which means fresh veggies, and since they are already payed for I don't need to take the money from my grocery budget. That means less spent at the grocery store. I have a very stocked freezer and pantry, and there is no reason not to use the items I have. Lastly, there are no great sales this week and so another reason not to spend a lot of money at the store.
After looking through my freezer and cabinets I came up with the following meals:
Monday- grilled honey lime chicken thighs, salad
Tuesday- pasta and meat sauce, homemade french bread (only if it isn't super hot outside) and mixed vegetables
Wednesday- hot dogs and hamburgers, salad
Thursday- leftovers. Madeline has her dance dress rehearsal so dinner will be short and early
Friday- chicken Parmesan (Jon's birthday dinner a day late), cheese-stuffed garlic bread sticks and corn
Saturday- chicken and vegetable quesadillas on homemade tortillas
Sunday- breakfast for dinner- scrambled eggs, sausage, strawberries (part of our csa includes pick your own strawberries) and pancakes
Lunches:
chicken nuggets
peanut butter and jelly
grilled cheese
ham and cheese
macaroni and cheese
*all served with fruit and vegetables
Breakfasts:
cereal
toast
English muffins
blueberry muffins
For more menu ideas visit Ask Ms Recipe and I'm An Organizing Junkie
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