WOW

I tried powdered milk the other day. Well, we all did when we were running low on cash and I didn't get paid yet-so we made do with powdered milk. I went on over to a page from Hillbilly Housewife, who is so nice as to have put the reconstitution amounts in a graph on her page. She is a veritable fount of information on many things. One of them is how to chill the milk with a towel dampened with cool water and wrap it around the milk. Now, if there is someone out there with access to the Internet who does NOT have refrigeration, I can only think of a few reasons why. They choose not to, they use the library, and/or their child got the information off the school's computer. Please feel free to add any I may have missed. Although her page is very interesting, I am still trying to figure that one out. Anyway, we tried it. My youngest said,"It's yucky." and refused it after that. The oldest said,"It's yucky." and refused it, for the most part, after that. I tried it-didn't mind it much and used it for creamer in my coffee. I tried adding sugar, which is a great suggestion- didn't really work too well. I added too much, just try to imagine it please, yes that is when I said,"It's yucky." and then thinned it out-much better. After a few days, I realised that they really were NOT going to drink it and gave up to the majority. I also noticed that it is actually MORE expensive to buy it that way down here where I live. Not sure why? We even considered trying to add some to the milk we have to make it last longer, when I realised that little bit of information. Oh well, it was worth a try!

Batch Cooking

I want to warn you- I don't do OMAC or once a month cooking. For one, I have a full time job and full time academic calendar- so two-three days in a row off, just doesn't happen. Second, I probably wouldn't be able to eat for two days after. It is just too much. I do batch cook though.

When I get a few hours or even a whole day, like yesterday, when I can cook-I do so. There were these absolutely fabulous half off deals at Winn-Dixie and I just HAD TO stock up! Whole fryers @ 0.74/pound, 8oz mushrooms for 0.99, and many more! I made a quick stop at Save-a-lot for 10lb bags of potatoes for $1.99, bought two because you can always make french fries to freeze, then headed home! At first I had a plan to rotisserie the chickens and make some mashed potatoes. It turned into a 6 hour cookathon. I think I was really just trying to put off the homework I had to do, but hey, I did do something constructive! In all, we have enough meals and frozen things to last for about 10-14 days. I utilized the rotisserie, crockpot, deep fryer, frying pan, large pot, mixer with slicer attachment, and my poor knife is just about dull from all of the slicing! I was able to make as follows:

4 cups of mashed potatoes
3 gallon sized bags of potato chips
Large bowl of salad=8 servings
2 sandwhich sized bags of satueed mushrooms and onions-premade/frozen for future use
2 chicken fajita premade dinners=8+servings
8 ears of corn
2- 3.3lb rotisserie chicken
3 quarts of rotisserie chicken stew=8 servings

Saving Money can be a full time job!

If you are like I am, when you start something wonderful and new, you go a little overboard. I have been spending a little TOO much time lately-clipping coupons. I have begun my summer classes and will need to spend more time concentrating on them. I will still be here a lot-can't really help myself. I still have a lot of thanks to give to the very nice lady over at Faithful Provisions for showing me the true path to saving money. Also, over at $5 Dollar dinners, for showing me how to save money one dinner at a time. She also has a fantastic garden. Just have to be careful of the frogs! :)

Single Mom Saving Big

While on my savings journey through the web, couponing, and BOGOF sales items, I hit a snag. It was with my family not appreciating all the work I was doing to save money. They began to take things for granted. How? One wonders. It all started out so innocently. I was talking about how I saved over $100 off the grocery bill this last week with a friend, when it hit me. I happened to be online looking at my emails when I got one from Paypal stating that it had been used. How is that possible when it's in my wallet? I thought. Upon further inspection of my wallet, I found no hint, not even a dust particle, of my Paypal Card. That's when I realized that HE must have taken it out and decided to use it.
I was at class all afternoon, unable to do anything more than watch the emails pile up- three in all. It totaled more than $11.00 in junk food. Now, one would say that is not that much money over all-true. However, I am the only person with a job right now and had the money spent on bills. I had to make a late night run to the bank-paying another $6.00 in unrecoverable bank fees to move money around to make sure the auto payment would not bounce causing another $30 in overdraft fees. This was all over $11.00. Not to mention the stress involved during my entire day-worry that he would just keep spending.

This is what I realized:

1. Everyone HAS to be on board with your financial plan or the smallest thing could mess it up.

2. Just because you save money on groceries does NOT give any ONE person in the home the ability to spend more on frivolity, me included.

3. Don't brag to people how much money you have saved if they do not understand that you are just happy that you are able to do it.