Friday, September 28, 2012

Groceries~~Sticking To Our Budget

Groceries Pictures, Images and Photos

Sticking to a budget while grocery shopping for a large family can sometimes be difficult.  Food prices are going higher at a rate faster than our income!  I told you how we do our grocery shopping, but sometimes the bigger question is how do we stay within our budget?  Here's a few tips I've learned over the years...

  • Make A Budget!  I know this sounds like a no~brainer, but sadly I went for years just getting groceries and had no idea how much we were spending at the end of the month!
  • Use coupons!  I don't go crazy with the coupons, but I do use them.  We get a flyer in our Saturday paper, and my parents get 2 papers with the weekly coupons that they give to me.  When I have time (!) I go through them and put them into my coupon organizer.  Our local stores are beginning to accept internet coupons now, so I'll look up coupons at my Inbox Dollars account.  They use coupons from Coupons.com plus I get 10cents back for every coupon I use.
  • Make a menu then make a grocery list.  When I was first married, I just went to the store and got "stuff".  Then when it was time to make a meal, I'd be rummaging through our cabinets trying to find enough ingredients to make something.  Now I always know what we are going to have for supper, and I know that we have the ingredients to make it.  This is not only a money saver, but a time saver as well!
  • Keep track while you are shopping.  I write down the amount of items right on my list and keep a running tab so I know what my total so far is.  If I am getting close to or over my limit,  I start re~evaluating things.  Sometimes I do go over, but then the next time I need to go under.  It's about balance sometimes.
  • Know what is cheaper.  We've all been told that the larger item is usually cheaper.  But what if that item is more than your williing to spend at the moment?  A larger box of cereal may be cheaper per ounce, but if it is $3 more and would put me over budget, is it worth it?  Sometimes yes, but not always!
  • Have a meatless meal once (or more) a week.  Our favorite is breakfast for supper~scrambled eggs and potatoes or french toast.
  • Buy items when they are close~dated.  One of our local stores will drop the price drastically when things are a day or two to expiration.  This can be a great deal.  I recently found greek yogurt (usually over $1 per cup) that was 2 days to expiration for 20 cents each.  I grabbed all of them.  Our kids enjoy yogurt, and we had them gone before expiring.  If there is something that can be frozen, buy it and freeze it!
  • Use discount stores.  We go to Aldi's to stock up on staples, produce, and dairy once a month or so.  The prices are so much cheaper than the grocery store, and it is the same quality products.
  • Don't be a food snob!  I admit to this recently.  I got so caught up in only buying "healthy" foods that I was going way over budget in the name of health!  There needs to be a balance here, too!  Yes, I want to serve my family good, healthy foods, but we don't need to loose the house in order to do it.  Since I rarely serve processed foods, I am more in control of how nutritious our foods are.  We sometimes eat store~bought white bread.  But it is balanced with other healthy choices.  And I am OK with that right now!
  • Grow it yourself!  Start a garden and grow your own vegetables.  You don't need to have a huge yard to do this either.  For several years, I had a garden along the side of our garage.  It wasn't huge, but it gave us some great tomatoes, peppers, beans and onions.  This year hubby made me a good size garden, but because of the drought, we didn't get much produce.  Hopefully next year will be better and I will be able to can our vegetables.  There is something so satisfying about eating your own produce.
Grocery shopping while sticking to a budget can be difficult in this economy.  Let me know if you have other great tips!

Blessings,

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I Won A Give~Away!!

Michele over at Family, Faith, and Fridays had a give~away last week, and I won!!  She was giving away a copy of Vicki Bently's book The Everyday Family Chore System.  I am super excited about winning a copy of this book.  We have been struggling lately in taking care of our home, and I'm hoping to get some great new idea's for keeping our home in order.  I'll let you know how it helps!

Stop over at Michele's Blog for some great encouragement!

Have a great day!

Blessings,

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31

Monday, September 24, 2012

Snowing In September

We have had such a strange year in the weather department.  Spring came very early this year, then a lot of the plants and trees were damaged when we had a freeze in May.   There was the drought this summer, which we have still not recovered from.  Now this weekend, we had SNOW!!


The kids were going crazy running from one window to another.  The snow didn't last very long, and certainly didn't stick around, but it was fun to watch it for the short while it lasted. 

Oh, and I drove hubby crazy by putting on the Christmas music!  I just love listening to it!

Have a great day!

Blessings,

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Thankful Thursday~God's Protection In The Storm

Yesterday we had a bit of a windstorm here.  The winds were quite strong, prompting us to put several things into the garage because we were afraid they would blow away.  During this time, some of our kiddo's were playing outside when a large branch of a tree fell down.  Thankfully, they were not playing near this area and none of them were hurt!





 I am also thankful for a son who steps right in and gets to work on the damage.  Hubby was at work when this happened, and Sport got out his hand saw and started cleaning up the mess.  By the time hubby got home from work, he had it almost all cleaned up.  The only thing he couldn't do was the large main branch which was to large to use his hand saw.
 I also love how Sunshine got out his own tools and "helped" his older brother.  It makes me smile and warms my heart to see them working together like this.  Sunshine really didn't help much, but he felt proud to be out there with his older brother!

This mamma is very thankful for her children and God's protection of them!
Have a great day!

Blessings,

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31

Linking up with:

Our Simple Country Life      

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Wordless Wednesday~~A Teenager Gets Her Temporary License!!


Blessings,

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31

Monday, September 17, 2012

Large Family Living~~Switching Summer and Winter Clothing


Fall is creeping up on us, and it's also when I start looking at filling our dressers with winter clothing.  With 5 children, it can sometimes be overwhelming (and expensive!) dealing with clothes for each of them.  While I certainly don't have "it" all together, I've found a system that works for our family.

First, I make a list for each of the kids that includes what they have and what they need.  I go through last years clothing to see if anything still fits them, or can be handed down to another child.  I also go through our boxes of clothing that haven't fit them yet.  We make a pile of clothing that can be given away, a pile that needs to be thrown away, and a pile of clothing that could be used again for other reasons (I like to use the denim from jeans to make blankets or use t~shirts for rags).  We take care of those piles, then move on.  Then I get to work on that list.  I write down what they have as far as jeans, shirts, skirts, sweaters, undergarments, pajamas, etc. and also write down what they need to get yet.  I have the older kids do this by themselves, and I do it for the younger ones.  When this has been done for each of the kids, then I make a master list for all the kiddo's of what we will need to buy.

We buy most of our clothing at thrift stores, and we've been blessed over the years by others who have shared their kids outgrown clothing.  We do sometimes like to shop at Kohl's as they often have great clearance sales which I can sometimes combine with a 30% off coupon.  I like to make my lists early, so I have that list in my purse ready in case I find myself at a garage sale or thrift store.  I don't want to waste money because I thought a child could use something only to find out they didn't.  (Been there, done that!)

For our family, organization in this area is not only necessary, it is a way I can show good stewardship by sticking to our clothing budget, and blessing others with clothing we no longer need.  How do you tackle the clothing battle?

Have a great day!

Blessings,

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31

Saturday, September 15, 2012

A Fun Give~Away: Ending Tomorrow!

Head over to Rachel's blog at Finding Joy for a great giveaway.  Hurry~~ it ends tomorrow!

Blessings,

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Looking Heavenward


Our oldest daughter had an appointment with the chiropractor this past week.  While talking to the chiropractor, he stated that some of my daughter's neck problems were caused by having her shoulder's hunched and looking down to much.  He talked about how in life we spend too much time looking down at our I~pods, cell phones, computer screens, homework, etc. and not enough time looking up.

This is true not only of neck problems, but also many of  life's problems.  I know in my own life, I can look back and see how many of the problems I've faced have been caused when I'm not spending enough time looking tword heaven.

Life gets busy, little children need attention, our husbands and our homes have needs, and there are many other reason's we use to try and validate our time away from our heavenly father.  It is only when we are walking with the Lord that we are in "alignment" with Him.  Even in the midst of trials, if we are walking in His ways, things will fall into place and we usually have much less pain. 

Spend some time looking heavenward.  Spend time in the Word, in prayer, and quietly listening to what our Father has to say.  I need to work on this area of life~won't you join me?

Blessings,

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31


Linking up with:
Our Simple Country Life     I Was Featured On...   

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Large Family Living~Laundry


yes, this is really what our laundry chute looks like sometimes!

"She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27

Organization is essential to keeping the laundry beast tamed in our home.  With 7 people, laundry is never complete!  I learned long ago that I needed a schedule in order to remain sane in the laundry department.

My schedule is quite simple.  I do something almost every day.  I once tried doing everything in one day, but it drove everyone crazy with the amount of laundry that needed to be folded.  It also seemed like we couldn't do anything else because we had to keep on top of the laundry in order to get it all done that day.  It just didn't work for our family.  So my schedule now is....

Monday~my clothes and hubby's clothes
Tuedsay~some of the kids clothes
Wednesday~the rest of the kids clothes
Thursday~towels, diapers (when we are in that season), and catch up day
Friday~hubby's work clothes
Saturday~bedding


I also hang our clothes out on the clothesline as often as possible, so I start the wash early in the morning.  I love the smell of fresh, clean clothes, and I really like saving some money by not running the dryer as often!  

My schedule sometimes does change depending on what may be going on that week, and I usually do diapers at least twice a week when we are in that season of life.  I try to get all the laundry folded and put away before hubby gets home from work.  He never complains, but I know he likes it when it is completely done before he gets home.  As we all know, there are always "those days" when nothing gets done like we want them to!

With a large family, there will always be laundry to be done.  While I'm not always thankful for the work, I am thankful that we have the clothing, and thankful for the ones who wear it!  (I'm also thankful for our large capacity washing machine!)

Blessings,

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31



Linking up with:
Growing Home     

Monday, September 10, 2012

Summer 2012~In Pictures































It's been a great summer!

Blessings,
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31