Home making

Warning: This post is a complete random post that jumps from one thing to another. I think my ADD kicked in. Believe it or not, it started out as a post about how to "do" home making.

To quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

"To take the first step in faith, you don't have to see the whole staircase: just take the first step."

So many things I have done or currently do based on faith:

• Believe the Bible to be true and applicable today.
• Shine My Sink. Flylady. How I "do" home making. 
• Lowering my grocery budget. Watch this video from moneysavingmom.com about your grocery budget.

Check out how Gayle over at the Grocery Cart Challenge feeds her family of 6 on $60 per week. While she wrote this back in July 2008, it's still applicable today. When I was at my lowest shopping budget of $60 per week for our family of 4, it was because I followed Gayle's advice in her blog. Now that I'm buying local protein (and eating it), I'm spending more, but the concepts still apply!

Last summer our pastor said:

"Christianity is not about a religion, it's about a relationship with Jesus Christ. Because he rose from the dead we have the power to experience forgiveness."

Recipe - Hamburgers

Do you really need a recipe for burgers. Not really, but I wanted to chat about it for a few minutes.

For my family of 4 - 3 of which are big eaters, we can eat hamburgers using 1 pound of ground beef. The cost for the beef is $3.10 (local burger from the butcher.) This only happens if I am the person to form the patties.

I know now that I need to eat a significant amount of protein (I didn't eat much at all before so I'm still getting used to the idea). However, I know that I don't need to eat *that* much. Meaning I don't need to eat as much as my husband. 1/5 of a pound of lean burger seems to be about the right amount of meat for me - I feel good and energetic after the meal.

I don't eat hamburger buns, but if we're having "regular" burgers then my family wants to have a bun. Right now I'm a bit grossed out about store bought bread (still no mold and it's been 7 weeks) and I haven't mastered bun making. YET. So I was thinking, why can't I serve a smothered burger like they do at the restaurants?

On Friday I plan to make Smothered Enchilada Burgers.

Cook burgers as normal, then spread enchilada sauce and cheese on top, bake a few more minutes.

For the enchilada sauce I wrote this back in October 2009:
Enchilada sauce:  to your spaghetti sauce, add 1-15oz tomato sauce, 2 T chili powder, cumin and taco seasoning to taste. Note: I no longer have taco seasoning on hand so I'll add more chili powder and garlic powder to see how it tastes.

I'll serve these burgers with baked sweet potatoe fries.

As I was dropping the kids off at school today, I thought mini-meatzas would be awesome and easier than making a whole meatza. Maybe?!?

I always used to try to "stretch" my protein by adding pastas and breads (homemade and whole grain). My kids were always hungry in between meals. When I serve more protein and vegies my kids don't seem to be as hungry. They aren't constantly snacking and neither am I.

I know for a fact I save a lot of time in the kitchen now. I wonder if you save any money by serving more grains. If I still bought store bought meat I don't think I'd see much of a change in our old $260 per month budget.

Any comments either way?
This recipe if you can call it that, has been linked to Grocery Cart Challenge.

Groceries

My daughter had a basketball game this week so I decided to hit the surplus food store/dented can store. I technically used some of my February grocery money, but this way I saved on gas.

I need to take my time in that store because they have a lot of organic merchandise that I didn't even know existed. Again, I was able to find more coconut milk.

I used to buy treats for my kids all the time. It became a really bad habit for me (and them). When my daughter saw the canned pears she was THRILLED!!! I don't think of those as a treat, but clearly she does. This is a huge change from a year ago. I didn't have the heart to tell her that they were for my emergency food pantry.

I spent $3.50 for food for this week and spent $31.50 for next months' food. Here are a few of the items I purchased:

• canned tomatoes 10 large and 4 small (some organic some not) $12
• black olives and green olives $3.50
• coconut milk $3.00
• Green chile sauce - I can pronounce the ingredients!!! $3.00
• salsa - I can pronounce the ingredients $1.00 - cheaper than I can make it.
• 2 cans sliced pears
• Stevia in the Raw $1.35 - last time I bought a different brand that was nasty. This is not horrible, but I'm still undecided if it's good or or good for you.
• BBQ sauce without high fructose corn syrup.

I bought a few more odds and ends as well.

Yesterday I went to Sam's Club for some February grocery shopping. I also spent $72 at the local butcher. Oh my goodness - I was like a kid in the candy store! On Friday I will pick up 6 chickens and some honey from a local Hutterite colony. Here are a few of the highlights from Sam's:

• 12 pounds frozen broccoli and 3 pounds organic baby carrots $20
• frozen strawberries for Wednesday's smoothie night $9
• cheese $5.49 (it'll be interesting to see how long this lasts now that I'm not eating cheese. I used to each cheese all.the.time
• 1 gallon whole milk for yogurt $2.68
• ham lunch meat $6.50 (you know this absolutely kills me to buy this when you look at the per pound price. However, sometimes frugality goes out the window when you spend hours and hours at basketball games. This will be for our dinner on Friday and lunch on Saturday.

Last night I had to run to Walmart to get some coffee - thankfully they started carrying dark roast Yuban. Remember how I said to always keep some in the pantry so you don't have to pay full price. Yeah, well do as I say, not as I do :) I guess I waited too long for a sale and missed it somewhere along the line! I bought some dried red beans and pinto beans as well as some rice. They were out of black beans and have been out of black beans for a long time. I need to buy some at Azure Standard next time I order - organic for the same price as pesticide beans.

I'm determined to prove that healthy on a budget doesn't have to cost a fortune. Keep in mind, your healthy might not be my healthy.

Have you reviewed your supermarket goals lately?

Check out more money saving grocery trips at:

MoneySavingMom

GroceryCartChallenge

Taxes

How much tax will you have to pay this year?

Have you ever used tax software to file your taxes or do you usually bring them to an accountant?

Did you know that accountants can make mistakes?

I have nothing against accountants, but the ONE time I took my taxes to an accountant they were wrong and I had to re-file my taxes. The only way I found out about this was because I happened to enter my information into Turbo Tax.

Then one year I did my taxes using Tax Act and Turbo Tax. My state taxes that were done in Tax Act were different (wrong!) when compared to Turbo Tax.

It was almost 14 years ago that I started doing taxes using Turbo Tax. Back then, you would buy it at Costco for about $50 and then get a bunch of rebates so it didn't cost any money. Today, I am able to do it online using the free version.

Even if you take your taxes in to an accountant, I still recommend that you input your data in Turbo Tax.

WHY???

Simply because you need to understand how certain choices affect your tax situation. I couldn't understand taxes to save my life when filling in the blanks in the booklets the IRS gives you. In fact, my husband (the non-numbers guy) ended up having to do our taxes the first year we got married because I was crying (literally) that we owed $500.

OOPS!

We were actually getting a refund of $300.

When you input the data in a program, you can then play with the numbers to see how changes will affect you. For example, when my husband got a new job with a significant raise, I wanted to make sure that we weren't going to owe any taxes. I was able to put in the salary information as well as the taxes being withheld and see what changes we needed to make. When we bought our house and were able to write off the mortgage interest, I was able to play with the numbers and increase our tax exemptions so we had more money every month instead of getting a big refund at tax time.

There are several companies that you can use to file federal taxes for free. Here in South Dakota we don't have any state taxes to file so I no longer have to worry about that. The only company I can recommend is Turbo Tax. It doesn't mean that other programs don't work, I just haven't had the chance to use them enough to recommend them. I know that H&R Block has a free file edition too - maybe I'll have to input data into their program and see if it's different than Turbo Tax.



Any other programs that you can recommend?

Start spending 5-10 minutes every day gathering the information you need to file your tax returns. 

This Works For Me!!! Find other great tips over at We are THAT Family.

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

Finding Time in Your Day

My husband and I went out to lunch last week. There were two college aged girls that were sitting in the booth behind us. Though they came together, you wouldn't know it. The entire time they were on their phones either texting or talking to someone else.

I'm sure that I'm in the minority, but when I'm hanging out with my family or friends, they come first.

When I go out for coffee with a friend,  I keep my cell phone handy. If I ever get a call or a text, I check it simply because very few people have my number. I don't have a "real" cell phone - I pay for the minutes that I use with my Tracfone. For the past six years, I've used a Tracfone - I pay less than $10 per month and guess what? I don't waste time on my cell phone.




How many times a day, do you text "real quick"? How many times a day, do you pick up the phone when someone calls?

I was thinking the other day about the DND button I had when I had a "real" job. When we didn't want to be disturbed, we would press the "DO NOT DISTURB" button so our phone calls would go directly to the receptionist.

In home making, though we are home, we don't have to answer the door when someone rings the door bell. We shouldn't be on the computer all day long. We do NOT have to answer the phone every time it rings (unless it's your spouse!)

Do you need to press the DND button today?

Check out 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven for more home making tips!
*note: this post contains an affiliate link

CASH!

I originally wrote this in 2009, but it's still applicable today.

I was talking to a friend of mine today about Sam's Club. I told her I only needed three things and I wondered how busy they were. She said - "beware when you go there." She had just spent a great deal more than she planned to for the "three things" that she needed.

I told her I would only buy my three things because I'd only bring in enough cash for those three things.

She told me I was BRILLIANT. Ahhhh what a friend. I love CASH!

Thrift and Jelly

Update: Feb 2011 - if you use frozen strawberries, let thaw and don't add any extra water.

"Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle"

That's the subtitle of Amy Dacyczyn's book The Complete Tightwad Gazette. I love the subtitle because in my humble opinion, being thrifty is part of homemaking. I think I'd be bored to tears if I wasn't always working on some area of our finances.

I wrote about the Pantry Principle back in December. I'll show you another reason to have a well stocked pantry.

Today, my son used the last bit of jelly for his lunch. Tomorrow he'll need another PB&J for his lunch. Unfortunately, my family has a really bad habit. They tell me they need something when they are completely out of whatever it is they need. Yeah, I'm not making a special trip to buy jelly.

Normally, I don't know if I'd worry about jelly because he could have it with just peanut butter or add some honey. However, I've been meaning to see if my frozen strawberries would work in the syrup recipe I have. The syrup recipe always ends up being more like jelly.

If I didn't have a well stocked pantry full of INGREDIENTS to make STUFF, then I wouldn't have been able to try this. The more things I learn how to make homemade, the fewer ingredients I need to stock in my pantry.

In my "pantry" I have frozen strawberries, lime juice as well as sugar.

If I can figure out how to make jelly/syrup then, I won't have to stock jelly in my pantry anymore. I'm happy to say that it worked!!!

I'm not sure that I'm saving any money - that's not always the point of using the pantry. I know what is in the jelly/syrup and it'll be easier for me.

Here's the recipe for jelly - I wish I could say where it came from, but I have no idea!

• 2 1/2 cups fruit (I've used frozen blueberries and strawberries)
• 3/4 c sugar (the jelly is really sweet - hoping to decrease this in the future)
• 1/2 c water
• 2 t lemon juice (I only had lime juice)
• Simmer all ingredients together for 12 minutes - so if I simmer less time would it be more "syrup-y"???

WAAAALAAAA.

Put in a jelly jar, let cool, then refrigerate.

Check out the Grocery Cart Challenge for more frugal recipes!

Mold Mission

My 6th grade son is doing a science experiment on mold.

The first experiment he started at the beginning of December and finally had to quit January 11, 2011. Two brands of store bought bread DID NOT grow mold. The homemade bread grew mold in 5 days. It's now January 19 and there still isn't any mold.

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He had to change his science experiment to: what difference does the container make when storing homemade bread. Again, mold grew quickly on the homemade bread (remember, it's supposed to have mold - even though it's gross it's a natural process). Just so that you know, the winner is:

The Bread Bag!!!

2nd place went to the tupperware container, the bread in two different brands of baggies haven't grown any mold on them yet.


So if you have a science experiment that you are working on and want to grow mold quickly, make sure to put your homemade bread in a store bought bread bag. If you don't want mold to grow as quickly put the bread in a plain baggie.  
 
Gross - just plain gross. If the store bought bread ever grows mold, I'll let you know.
 
I don't bake bread very often anymore now that I understand nutrition a bit more, but my family still eats burgers with buns so I better figure out how to make burger buns! Tried and true recipe anyone???
 

Frugal Grocery Tip #2

This post has been linked to 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven where she's having a $100 CSN Stores giveaway this week! She also has a lot of wonderful recipes and information on her blog.

Food = Nourishment
This frugal tip goes along with what I posted last week:

Cook what you have, not what you want.

Food should be nourishing for our bodies. If you look at the nutrients in a steak versus hamburger, do you really NEED to buy the steak in order to get the nutrients you need? Do you NEED to buy the boneless/skinless chicken breasts or will a whole chicken provide the nutrients you need?

I'm not really fond of steak, but my husband loves it. Thankfully we get quite a few packs when we buy a 1/4 of a beef.

Looking back over the years of my frugal journey, I realize now that I should have bought steak more often than I did. I could have made room in the budget, but failed to do so because it wasn't important to me. When cooking for my family I need to be aware of their wants.

Looking just at the nutritional information, I don't believe that we *need* to have steak. Looking at my husband, how hard he works to provide for his family without complaint, I *need* to serve steak occasionally.

Food = Nourishment for our bodies and our souls.

P.S. I could have made room in my very small food budget by having soup another night and scrambled eggs with veggies another night. I could have used steak in fried rice instead of chicken which we had about 4 times a week because I love it so much. What do you mean, it's not all about me???

Homemaking



 Are you frustrated because you feel like you do everything around the house? What changes do you need to make?

• Lower your expectations.
• Make your kids pick up after themselves. Our kids get docked on their allowance if they leave things laying around. When I enforce it. If I don't enforce it, I pick up after them and COMPLAIN!!! I need to start enforcing this again!
• Don't expect to change your significant other. My husband has been wonderful trying to help me keep the kitchen island cleaned up. Not because I was nagging at him (that didn't work, I tried it), but because he saw it was important to me.

Frugal Grocery Shopping Tip and Trip

In my almost "primal" cooking budget post, (FYI - primal eating is the name of a diet/lifestyle change) I mentioned that I bought coconut milk at the "dented canned food store" AKA surplus store. I paid $.70 for one can of coconut milk. I normally pay $1.44. I usually go through one can every other week. If I could buy my coconut milk there every time I needed it, I would save:

$1.44 - $.70 = $.74 savings * 26 weeks in the year = $19.24

$19.24 per year savings for one itty bitty can of coconut milk.

If you do this with 10 items then you'd save $192.40 per year - not bad for doing nothing more than writing the price down on a piece of paper.

The town with the surplus store is 10 miles away. I go to that town anyway because I like a consignment stores there. When I go to the consignment store, I go into the surplus store to see if they have anything on hand I need. It's always interesting to see what they have in stock.

It's a win win for me.

I earn money at the consignment store, purchase used things at a great price and usually find something at the surplus store that is on my list.

Current Shopping Goals
Here are my current grocery shopping goals that I wrote earlier. I'm going to add them in here again just to remind myself:

1. Stay within $400 monthly budget (Prior to May 2010 it was $260/month)
2. Buy Meat/Protein Locally 
3. Buy a LOT of veggies (if budget allows, Locally) 
4. Fats - buy good fats that will help with hypoglycemic issues 
5. Read Labels - buy items without a bunch of junk (sour cream, whipping cream, etc.)

I went to three different stores today, plus a stop for my farm fresh eggs. I had planned to buy only what I needed for one week. I'm sure that isn't the case though - I'll find out as I enter in what I bought:

• 1 quart 1% milk $1.29
• Bananas $1.55
• 1 Avocado $.99
• 1 lb Baby carrots $1.00
• 1 head of cabbage $1.48
• onions $1.59
• Bacon $7.93 - not having luck on the locally purchased bacon. I'm still keeping my eyes open though!
• 2 packs of chicken (Smart brand chicken - I *think* better than Tyson, but who knows!) $10
• 3 packs of ground pork for sausage - didn't want to stop at the Butcher Shop today to pick this up. Since it's only 2 degrees outside, I'm okay with that. $10
• Bacon $7.98
• 3 apples ($.99/lb - large apples) $1.83
• 1 orange ($.69/lb) $.38
• yams $2.21
• Total at two stores was $43

Then I went to Walmart to check on frozen veggie prices. Right now I buy my frozen veggies from Sam's Club - the Norpac/Flav-R-Pac brand (some grown in Mexico). Here's what I bought to see if we like them before I head to Sam's Club and buy more big bags:

• Pict Sweet brand - grown in the US: After a little research found out there was a recall in Oct due to glass shards. Fabulous - just what I always wanted in my veggies!
• 28 oz Green Peas $ 2.25
• 14 oz Brussel Sprouts $1.50
• 28 oz Green Beans $2.25
• 26 oz Broccoli $2.25
• 16 oz Spinach $1.50
• Cocoa baking mix - not Pict Sweet Brand!

Total spent today: $65

This post has been linked to:
Money Saving Mom
Grocery Cart Challenge

Frugal Grocery Shopping Tip

Cook what you have, not what you want.

When you are trying to save money at the grocery store, one of the first things that you need to do BEFORE going to the store, is to look through your pantry to see what foods you have on hand to eat.

Don't want to eat what you have on hand? Then you have two choices that I can think of (anyone else think of other options???):

1. Get Creative - use what you have, but create something you haven't had before. How about looking through the recipes/reviews at allrecipes.com.
2. Be Stubborn - eat something you really don't want to, knowing that food is just energy for your body and every meal doesn't have to be spectacular.

If you are coming up with excuses about why this won't work, then is it possible that spending money at the grocery store is something you love to do and is one of your highest priorities?

That's OKAY!!!! As long as you aren't:

Trading what you want MOST, for what you want at the MOMENT. 

This Frugal Grocery Shopping tip has been linked to:

Life as Mom

Beans Beans the Magical Fruit Part 2

Back in November I wrote about the trick to cooking dried beans. Here are a few updates and recipes:

The trick to making dried beans taste like canned beans.

Cajun Spiced red beans and rice.

Baked Pork Chimichangas

Refried Beans

Chicken and Beans

FYI - I wouldn't say that I think beans are a good source of protein. I think they are a great carb to eat with a little protein thrown in (1c. beans has 15 grams of protein, 1 burger has 54 grams of protein). In our family we need more protein versus carbs.

Pulling from Mark's Daily Apple:
300 or more grams/day - Danger Zone!

Easy to reach with the “normal” American diet (cereals, pasta, rice, bread, waffles, pancakes, muffins, soft drinks, packaged snacks, sweets, desserts). High risk of excess fat storage, inflammation, increased disease markers including Metabolic Syndrome or diabetes. Sharp reduction of grains and other processed carbs is critical unless you are on the “chronic cardio” treadmill (which has its own major drawbacks).
150-300 grams/day – Steady, Insidious Weight Gain
Continued higher insulin-stimulating effect prevents efficient fat burning and contributes to widespread chronic disease conditions. This range – irresponsibly recommended by the USDA and other diet authorities – can lead to the statistical US average gain of 1.5 pounds of fat per year for forty years.

I'm not saying I agree with everything that he writes and I'm not a doctor - this is one of many sites that I've looked at that state if you eat a lot of carbs you will gain weight. However, for my family, we need to eat low carb because of insulin issues.

New Years Resolution: Lose 10 pounds

Even though I didn't make this resolution, I'm sure some people have. It's one of the most common New Year Resolutions.

I'm going to change your resolution though - how about this resolution:

I want to be healthy so I'm going to eat differently.

1. Write down your eating plan for the day.
2. Write down how many glasses of water you want to drink.
3. Here's the key - choose not to have anything else to eat or drink until you've followed your plan. You might want to break your eating plan down into morning, afternoon and evening plans.
4. Eat until you have no more hunger, not until you're stuffed.

When I'm doing this, I always make sure to write down a little more than I think I'll need to eat. You don't have to get really specific on amounts...I love baby carrots - so "a lot of baby carrots" is on my eating plan for the day.

Keep it realistic!!! If you want to drink eight glasses of water a day, but only drink one right now - the first week increase it from one to two glasses. The second week, from two glasses to three glasses...etc.

Frugal "Almost" Primal Cooking Budget and Shopping Trip

**Note: One Red Daisy wrote a post with her 5 grocery budget goals. If you want to write a post, let me know the link and I'll add it into my post so we can all help each other out! Thanks One Red Daisy - great idea!

I'm not done writing my plan B yet. However, as I was looking through old notes and my blog trying to figure out what works and what doesn't I found this:

October 2010 Update:

If you have read my blog for any length of time you'll know that I don't spend $260 a month any longer. My budget is now $400 per month. We are choosing to support local businesses by buying our beef, pork and chicken locally. I've also found locally raised eggs and honey. Not only are we supporting local businesses, the products are better for us!

Here are my current goals:

1. Stay within $400 monthly budget (Prior to May 2010 it was $260)
2. Buy Meat/Protein Locally
3. Buy a LOT of veggies (if budget allows, Locally)
4. Fats - buy good fats that will help with hypoglycemic issues
5. Read Labels - buy items without a bunch of junk (sour cream, whipping cream, etc.)

I usually freak out a bit when I read various issues about our health. My latest research involved canned tomatoes. They contain BPA which causes problems (google for more info. Better yet, swagbuck it and earn money!) According to msn:

"That’s because small amounts of BPA from plastics and linings can leach into our food and drinks. The problem: BPA isn’t just a building block of plastic—it’s also a weak estrogen that acts as an endocrine disruptor in the body."

They go on to say:

We’re at the beginning of a product packaging revolution. Since it’s already happening in other countries, it’s bound to happen here,” says vom Saal. “As a result of public pressure, Japan got rid of BPA in can liners 10 years ago. Now BPA levels in the blood of college students are roughly half of what they were a decade ago.”


Here's what I've decided to focus on for my family.

In order to complete goal #1 - stay within $400 monthly budget, I need to focus on steps 2-5 and forget about everything else. For now. Just to review, here are steps 2-5:

2. Buy Meat/Protein Locally

3. Buy a LOT of veggies (if budget allows, Locally)
4. Fats - buy good fats that will help with hypoglycemic issues
5. Read Labels - buy items without a bunch of junk (sour cream, whipping cream, bread etc.)

When I have those mastered, I can move onto other things. One more thing - remember when eggs were absolutely the worst thing you could eat and you are going to die if you eat them? Well, that's not what experts are saying now. If I continue to spend my time researching every thing that could be hazardous to my health, I get stressed.

I wonder how good it is to have a lot of stress in your life?

So anyway, all that to say, I'm still working on plan B. I stopped by the dented canned goods store and  picked up the following for $25.00:

• some organic and some regular tomatoes (this should last us a long while!)
• walnut oil for salads - not sure if this is any better than canola, but at least it's a real nut??? Anyone know?
• coconut milk $.70 (normally $1.44) I go through about 1 every other week.
•  raw honey from Colorado. Not as good as local raw honey, but half the price. Boy is it SWWWEEEEET! Not sure that I like it, but I like the price!
• Corn meal or "whatever" to attempt homemade corn tortillas. Homemade is better than storebought, but we'll see how it goes!

FRUGAL TIP:
List out 5 goals for your grocery budget. Focus on those items and those items only. Once you've mastered them, feel free to move on. Thanks for letting me talk to myself!

This post has been linked to:
Grocery Cart Challenge
Money Saving Mom

Recipe - Cream Cheese Wrapped Pickles

My mother-in-law is a fantastic cook. I'm not sure when I first had these, but they were a little strange looking. Who on earth would put these ingredients together?

I brought this appetizer to a party over Christmas and they disappeared quickly. Now I know to bring more than you think you'll need.

• dill pickles
• softened cream cheese
• sliced lunch meat (don't use shaved lunch meat for this)

Spread the softened cream cheese onto the meat, then add a pickle and roll it up. Cut it into slices.

I had no idea that this was such a popular recipe - it's all over the Internet! Check out allrecipes for a picture and more comments.

By the way, one comment from a man at our party said - "why do they cut the pickles up - might as well leave them whole." Works for me - you'd save a lot of time!

This recipe has been linked to:
Grocery Cart Challenge

Tightwad Gazette EWWWW Factor

I wish I could remember where it was in the Complete Tightwad Gazette that I read about the EWWWW factor.

We all have our "ewwww factor". To some people buying used clothing is just disgusting. However, have you ever tried on clothes at a clothing store? Do you honestly think that you are the only one that tried that shirt on? EWWWWW!

How about staying at a motel....do you think you are the only one who slept on those sheets? EWWWWWWWWW!

As soon as you get over your EWWWW factor, you can start saving more money. It allows you to buy used clothing or used sheets.

It even allows you to eat chicken soup made from bones that people ate off first. EWWWWW!

Maybe I'm still getting over some of my own EWWWW factors.

Spend Your Time Wisely

I was trying to get a close up of the ice hanging off of the tree. It was a beautiful sight!

Do you ever look at how you've spent your time in the past to determine what works and what doesn't.

CLEANING
At one point when I was following FLYlady's cleaning routine, I was sweeping and mopping the main floor of my house in one day. I'm not sure how long it took me, but I totally dreaded that day. I have hardwood floors and ceramic tile on my main floor and it takes FOREVER to do it in one day.

Okay, not really, but it felt like that. It works much better for me if I break it up into three different days.

That's how FLYlady's routines work - you determine what works best for you.

SCRAPBOOK/PICTURES
I've realized that I don't love to scrapbook. However, I love to look back at the scrapbook pages that I've created and read the journaling/look at the pictures. I found that if I spend 10 minutes per day on this, it's not a big deal at all. When I refuse to work on it (and for me it is work!) I get overwhelmed and don't print any pictures or start any pages. Working on them slowly is way better than not doing anything at all. If I don't scrapbook, then unfortunately, I don't journal.

The best gift my mom left us when she died was her photo albums with journaling on the pictures.

COMPUTER
A few years ago, I quit using the computer for 40 days. I felt like I spent too much time on it and needed to quit cold turkey. It was an enlightening time!

While the Internet is a great tool, I really have to limit my time on it.

Happy 2011!!!

I don't make resolutions. When I searched to see how many people actually keep their New Year's resolutions, I found many different answers...Here's one I found interesting from wiki.answers.com:

"According to surveys, only 8 percent of Americans successfully achieve their New Year's resolutions so 92% are not kept. 80 percent of those who make New Year resolutions have failed by Jan. 20. When I made resolutions I was definitely in the 92%.
Last year I wrote a "non-resolution" post where I reviewed the goals I had set in September when my kids went back to school.
 
I had such a great vacation! I'm trying to figure out how I was able to relax so much when I was still cooking and doing laundry. My house is incredibly dusty right now, but that'll only take a few minutes to fix this afternoon when I put my regular decorations back up. Christmas decos are down and packed away for another year. I didn't have to play Mom Taxi near as much. I always forget how time consuming that is!

So I decided that I needed to go back to once a week shopping - similar to Grocery Cart Challenge blog. I decided to go every Wednesday to the store to get only what I needed. My meal plan would be based on things I have in my fridge, freezer and cupboards (AKA the pantry).

So I went to the butcher shop this morning and bought 5 pounds of burger. Yep - today is MONDAY and I don't NEED 5 pounds of burger this week. GRRRR.

Maybe plan B will work out better!!! Stay tuned for plan B - I'll post it this week.

Do you make resolutions? Does it work?