Wordful Wednesday - Gettin' crazy with menu plans - yeah, baby!

I already told you about how we're having to pinch our pennies like crazy this month, and that our grocery budget is a measly $150.

How can a family of three possibly manage on that?

Well, it helps that our child refuses to eat pretty much anything besides goldfish crackers, graham crackers, yogurt, eggs and milk, but that's beside the point. And, eliminating non-essentials like sodas, cookies, etc., helps as well (but, since we stopped buying soda can I just tell you how bad I want a Diet Coke???)

Over a year ago, I started getting into coupons. Yes, I became *that* crazy coupon lady.

I joined a website called Coupon Sense that helps you organize coupons and matches up grocery store sales with coupons to maximize your savings, often resulting in free groceries.

They also teach you the strategy of stocking up on certain items when they're on sale, such as canned goods and anything that can be frozen.

So, I try to keep stockpiles of things like boneless, skinless chicken breast and 93% lean hamburger in my freezer. I also stock up on cereal when it's on sale (like the time I got 15 boxes of name brand cereal for $13.84), as well as things like diapers, baby wipes and personal care items. CVS is one of my favorite places to get those types of things for free.

Anyway, at the end of October when I tirelessly crunched the numbers to attempt to get our budget balanced, I realized our grocery budget needed to be cut - waaaay down. I hadn't been too gung ho with the coupon usage (I tend to go in spurts with it), and I realized I needed to hunker down and get back on the bandwagon.

I started with a menu plan, and I was able to come up with an entire month's worth of meals based on just the ingredients we had in our house (of course, things requiring dairy and other perishables would need the occasional ingredient here or there).

Sure, we don't have much of anything extravagant - you'll see things like bean and cheese burritos, blueberry pancakes, sloppy joes, Hamburger Helper, and spaghetti, but really - those are the kinds of things we like.

When it comes to side dishes, I've got things like Betty Crocker boxed potatoes and frozen veggies that I got for free or nearly free with coupons.

So, looking at that calendar and seeing what I was able to do for our family as a result of using coupons, stockpiling, and planning ahead made me feel really good.

We've got roughly $37.50/week to spend on groceries, and for the rest of this month, I'll be telling you how that goes. So far this week, I've gotten 3 gallons of milk, a carton of eggs and some Egg Beaters.

I love a good challenge, and I'm confident we can do this. When times get tough, we just need to get creative.

Your turn: What are your favorite meals that are cheap to make? Do you do menu plans? How do you save money on food?

*This post is a part of Wordful Wednesday, hosted each week by Angie at 7 Clown Circus.

A post-holiday update from my chaotic little corner of the world...

Hello bloggy friends!

You'll have to forgive me for being so absent during the past couple weeks. I've been enjoying time with family, way too many fattening goodies and trying not to use my brain as much as possible.

My hubby is a school teacher, so he's been on a 2-week break (that was much deserved). So, in turn, I've been limiting my time on the computer and spending as much time as possible with my little family.

So, here's an update on us...

Christmas was a success. We all survived just fine, and hubby and I realized we made the right choice by buying Kaylee one book for Christmas. I put it in her stocking, stuffed the rest full of toys she already had, and she promptly took the stuffed bear out of the top, dropped it on the floor and set off to play with a roll of wrapping paper.

Kaylee is crawling. She alternates between actual crawling and army crawling (army crawling is much faster), and is fascinated by all things non-toy. For example, she lives to crawl to the heater vent in her room and bang on it like a drum, she also likes to scrape the wall and she's enjoying a delectable new snack known as PIECES OF CARPET. She was chomping away on something a couple days ago, so I stuck my finger in her mouth and pulled out a piece of carpet. Lovely.

We're working on tooth #2, which resulted in Kaylee staying with her grandparents for 2 nights in row so as to prevent hubby and I from losing every single last marble we possess. It was fabulous.

We have implemented a strict budget that includes saving, trying to pay toward the principle on our car and house, and not overspending on such things as eating out or frivolous purchases. Such budget has made me realize that unless I want to stress out about money every waking moment of my life, I need to work 4 days a week instead of 3. More about that to come in future posts, I'm sure...

I am also trying a new concept related to housekeeping, which is a piece of advice a co-worker gave me. She said when she was raising her son, she had a rule that there was one room in her house that was her clean zone. It got picked up every day before bed, and no one was allowed to leave junk in that room.

I've chosen my clean room to be my kitchen, and so far, it's going well. No dirty dishes in the sink at night, no crap piling up on the counter, none of that. So, if the rest of my house is in shambles, at least my humble little kitchen looks decent. It really does make me feel better. And it's not hard to keep it up on a daily basis.

Oh, and my last update is that my hubby started his very own blog! It's called Destined for 1337ness, which in computer speak means "leetness" which in computer speak means "coolness" or something like that. I don't understand it completely, but it's something like that. Anyway, his blog is about computer stuff, gaming, things of that nature. Click here to check it out.

It's good to be back.