Saturday, March 11, 2017

Saving Money and Being Frugal - Week in Review 3/11

Here's what the week from March 5th-11th looked like:

Progress on Financial Goals I Set for this Week

Last week, I set four goals to work on. This is how I did:

- Return finance books to the library that are due. Did this on March 7th.

- Take Sophia and Olivia to the bank so they can invest in their first CDs. Did not get to the bank as planned. It's about 35 miles away (it's a credit union with the best rates). Will be going this week when we head to St. Paul to pick up t-shirts for our 4-H club.


- Put money into one of the retirement accounts. Had hoped to do so on March 10th. However, our schedule was a bit more hectic than anticipated with a funeral, volunteering at the humane society, and then a trip to Hastings for the 4-H Wildlife Project Bowl that's today.

- Finish taxes and get them to the accountant. Worked on taxes for three days. Am waiting on printed statements from the hospital/clinic with all the payments we made during 2016. My goal is to get our paperwork to the accountant on Monday.

Progress on Blog Goals I Set for this Week

Last week,  I set five blogging goals to work on  as they relate to saving money and home organization:

- Write things I want to remember from Money Secrets of the Amish and The Five Years Before You Retire. Posted on March 8th and March 5th respectively.

- Continue to work streamlining and organizing our home by doing the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home. Did Weeks 9 and 10 which focused on organizing the laundry room and laundry routine .

- Write an update about 40 Bags in 40 Days. Posted on March 7th.

- Finish doing and writing Artist Studies that the girls need to do for homeschooling using the free schedules suggested by Ambleside Online and Simply Charlotte Mason. Did not do this.


- Do at least four posts this week. Did two book reviews, one post for the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home challenge, and one post about 40 Bags in 40 Days. All together, that's four posts. Goal met!

After taking a break from blogging (for the most part) in 2016, I'm enjoying writing again about a variety of subjects.

Smart Purchases

- Went to the Dollar Tree and purchased items to celebrate a birthday. There were two battery-operated lanterns that were cute and gave off a pretty blue light when lit. For $2 for two lanterns, that was an inexpensive (and reusable) decoration.

- Purchased generic items at the grocery store for all items that had a generic alternative. Saved a lot of money rather than paying for name-brand food.

- Purchased birthday cards at the Dollar Tree. Rather than spending $4-8 for a card, I spent only 50 cents each per card.

Frugal Meals

Cleaned out my refrigerator this week and used produce I had on hand to make meals. The tabbouleh - which I made for Saturday's lunch - ended up being eaten at three additional meals. Used up a box of couscous, a cucumber, the feta cheese, three Roma tomatoes, and package of mint.


Also made jicama salsa which was eaten at several meals. Again, used up several ingredients that I had on hand:  the jicama, fresh cilantro, red pepper, and red onion.


For both the salsa and tabbouleh, I used many of the organic garlic from the CSA we were members of this past summer (and will be again this summer).

We also ate leftovers for many lunches and two dinners.

What was on the table for dinner last week:

Saturday -  Leftovers. Olivia had a turkey burger; Sophia had a burrito; and  I had tabbouleh.

Sunday  - Chicken pot pie. Used the rest of the chicken I made last week and a ball of pie dough that I frozen some time ago.

The recipe for the pie dough is from my grandma on my mom's side who was a baker. She would make big batches of pie dough, put them into baseball-size balls (enough for two crusts), wrap them in Saran wrap and then again in  aluminum foil.

The pot pie recipe was from Betty Crocker. It was really good. Everyone liked it.

Monday - Meatballs and spaghetti in the slow cooker. This was a new recipe from Taste of Home magazine. It was very good.            

Tuesday - Leftovers (chicken pot pie, beef barley soup which was made for lunches, or a cheese quesadilla).

Wednesday - Pizza and cheese bread from the local pizzeria to celebrate a birthday.  

Thursday - Bratwurst and baked beans.
    
Friday - Dinner at Green Mill restaurant with friends from 4-H.

My financial goals for this week:

- Take Sophia and Olivia to the bank so they can invest in their first CDs.

- Bring taxes to the accountant.

- Finish reading "Smart Money Smart Kids - Raising the Next Generation to Win with Money" by Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze.



- Start reading "Paying for College Without Going Broke."

- Put money into one of the retirement accounts.

Blog as it relates to saving money and home organization:

- Write things I want to remember from Smart Money Smart Kids.

- Continue to work streamlining and organizing our home by doing Weeks 11 and 12 of the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home.

- Write an update about 40 Bags in 40 Days about Days  8-15.

- Finish doing and writing Artist Studies that the girls need to do for homeschooling using the free schedules suggested by Ambleside Online and Simply Charlotte Mason.

-  Create essential oil blends that are similar to higher-priced pre-blended ones.


*Part of Financially Savvy Saturdays on brokeGIRLrich and Super Saving Tips*

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Woah, that is a lot of goals each week! And 4 posts is a LOT!

Gary @ Super Saving Tips said...

Four posts in one week is quite an accomplishment! Sometimes I struggle with two in a week. I only buy greeting cards from Dollar Tree...it's such a big difference in price with little to no difference in the cards. Besides, they're not typically kept more than a few days anyway.

Rita said...

Wow! That's a lot--even with the partially finished items. Kudos to you all. :)