This weekend

A couple of weeks ago I bought two packages of marked down pork for 3.67 total and both packages had a dollar off coupon in addition on it. I didn't look closely at the packages when I bought them. I took them out of the freezer on Friday and it said "pork fat". 

Well, I let the two packages thaw in the fridge. When they were thawed I trimmed off all the pork fat and found that there was a medium mixing bowl of lean pork that we could cook for meals. I had some Aldi marinade in the pantry and used some of this to tenderize the meat and provide some flavor. The pork sat in the marinade for 24 hours in the fridge. 

I baked the marinated pork this afternoon at 325 in the oven. I took some frozen corn out of the freezer and put two teaspoons of butter in a pan and simmered both the corn and butter. I had bulk white rice in the pantry. I had some scratch chicken stock in the fridge that needs to go. I used 1 and 1/2 cups of chicken stock and 1/2 cup of water in the steamer and added one cup of long grain rice to steam. 

Dinner was amazing. I have a bit of rice left over. We have a small bowl of pork and corn left for tomorrow to have for lunch. I was considering making a fried rice for lunch using tonight's left overs. I have never made it before and found an easy recipe online. I will attempt to make this tomorrow. 

Last night we had pancakes and smoked cracked pepper bacon for dinner. The pancakes came from a mix that my husband bought prior to my arrival in Florida. The box is almost empty. The plan is to finish using this up during the week. The cracked pepper bacon was from the grocery package that my mother in law sent a couple of weeks ago. It was a 12 ounce package. I cut the strips in half and baked them in the oven. We have five strips left and those are in the fridge to incorporate into meals this week. 

I saved the bacon fat to use to fry eggs and potatoes this week. I am trying to be more frugal and save some money at the grocery store. 

Things that need to be used this week:

left over marinated pork

left over rice

left over buttered corn

5 strips of bacon

corn bread

Lunch today

My son opted to have two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. 

My middle daughter opted to have chicken noodle soup. 

My oldest daughter opted to have the last package of ramen noddle soup. 

My husband and I finished off some bagged salad, added a small cucumber, a few cherry tomatoes, and a bit of cheese. 

We emptied the last two bags of tortilla chips (into one medium size bowl) and offered the last remaining salsa with gaucamoli along with some strawberries and watermelon for all of us. I put this on the dining room table for all of us to share as part of our lunch. We used up a lot of lurking stuff that may have other wise gone to the wayside. 

That's it. A basic lunch. More later. I have a nap in the future since I spent the morning cleaning house and doing some house chores. 

Life

Monday: My husband and I went to see the mortgage lender to submit paperwork. I am approved for the mortgage for the house. We are putting 10 percent down (20, 900) and the mortgage will be for a total of 184,410 dollars. The paperwork has been accepted and the loan has went to the processing department for a 30 year loan with 4.2 percent interest fixed. The hold up with the loan process will be the submission of two paychecks from my new job which I start on the 18th.

Tuesday: I went to my new job for HR forms, a physical, and a drug test. The forms are submitted. I had a physical. I completed the drug test. I submitted all my vaccinations, ppd testings, titers, and had all my correct dates on each form. I needed a second ppd test which I received and have to go back today at 2 to get it read.

Wednesday: We ventured into Orlando and took the kids to Epcot. My husband bought season passes. This does not come out of my budget. This is strictly his spending money that he has after he pays his bills every month.

Thursday: We are staying home most of the day. I did some house work. Our pest control folks came back because we found some ants in the living room. The pest control folks have been here twice now since we began treatment for the rental. The pest control folks found another colony outside near the living room sliding doors and put some bait down. They will be back in a week to evaluate for progress. We have only seen a small amount of very tiny ants in the living room. It is best to take care of this problem before it becomes a huge problem. I have to go back to my new job and get my ppd test read at 2 this afternoon.

Meals this week: My kids had cereal with milk or the choice of eggs for breakfast. Lunch was either sandwiches (pb&j, turkey breast lunch meat from Aldi with cheese, hot dogs, or soup). Dinner on Monday was sloppy joes. Wednesday dinner was ohama steakhouse single meatloaves (from the care package from mother in law) and we baked two of the single meatloaves. We divided the meatloaves into slices for the five of us. The kids were able to choose salad (lettuce, cheery tomato, cucumber), or left over potato salad, and watermelon to have with their dinner. Tuesday's meal was a combination of left over lasagna from the family meal with our cousins, potato salad, and water melon.

I am aware that some of the meals are very carb heavy. We are not snacking between meals. Everyone is eating what they put on their plates and are working hard on not wasting food.

I called HR at my old job this morning and waiting for a call back. I did not receive my PTO cash out as today would have been my regular payday. I did refill everyone's prescriptions last night and paid 96 dollars for 6 medications for both my daughters and husband. I got mine refilled the week before for a tune of 65 dollars. We are all set on meds and continue to have some refills still.

I found a good source for medication discounts. Has anyone ever used "good rx" to get discounted medications? When I was completing my clinical requirements for my master's degree at the free clinic we were able to use this "good rx" to see how much ordered medications would cost patients to pick up at the pharmacy and if they were too expensive there was always alternative meds that could be ordered.

We will not have alternative meds ordered for the five of us until I receive health benefits in November. I start my new job on the 18th and will receive my benefit package then to review and sign up for. I am still waiting to hear from my previous job about receiving a certificate about having health insurance and have to speak to Lincoln Financial about transferring my 403 B to an IRA.

Home buying process

Our old home closed the other day. We owed 67 to 68 T on it and sold it for 120 T. After everything was finished we were wired 45 T into our joint account and everything is said and done.

I took about 85 percent of that money and put it in a savings account in my name only. I took about 10 percent and put in my checking account to cover the household bills since I will not have a paycheck until October 5th. My husband has some in his account.

I paid September and October's rent. 1500 a month. Done. I paid every bill that I had sitting in my shoe box (sound weird I put the bills in an old shoe box and keep it on the shelf in the dining room). Every Bill Is Paid. I have more than enough money in my checking account to cover the bills for September and part of October as long as I am careful.

I went to the grocery store this morning and spent 145 dollars. I live Aldi.

I paid 2,000 dollars on my sister's mortgage. She is in the process of a loan modification. I don't know any more details than that. I told her that I would help her once the house closed and I did my part. She was very thankful. I did tell her that I wouldn't be able to do much more.

I went to speak to the building company about the homes we toured on Thursday night. The model home that we toured was sold and set to close this weekend. It was a very beautiful single level family home. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1800 sq feet, comes with stove, fridge, and dishwasher. Everything is electric (which is what we are used too). The ceilings are just regular, where as the rental home we have vaulted ceilings.

We are paying 1500 in rent for this home. We thought that we would be long term renters for a while after our house closed. We found that while renting in the short term is OK, we would really like to have a home of our own instead of paying someone elses's mortgage.

I gave the building company a good faith payment Friday afternoon. I have a realtor that is helping us through this process. The mortgage loan will be in my name only as my credit score is 720 and much better than my husband's. Our rent is 1500 and the mortgage would be about 1200-1250 a month which is a bit more easier to the budget.

We are putting 10 percent down on the purchase price of 205,900. I have been approved and qualified for the mortgage loan at 4 percent interest. I have a credit score of 739, 711, and 731 at the three credit bureaus. I am going to meet with the lender tomorrow at noon to go over the required documents that I have to give them. I have all these documents in a folder next to the lap top for tomorrow.

The rest of the money from the house is going to stay in my savings account for an emergency fund. There will be 13,000 in it after paying the 10 percent and closing costs. The insurance and taxes (oh goodness the taxes on the newly built home) will be put in an escrow account.

The home will be completed in November or December of this year. I will have to increase my savings. I am still waiting for my old job to pay my PTO cash out. I am hoping it will be here on Thursday in my bank account. It will be put right into my savings account (which I have access to online).

What's been happening??

Well, our house finally closed this past Wednesday! The funds were distributed and as of Wednesday I was debt free. 

Thursday: I did not get to HR at my new job this week because I lost my CPR card during the move from Virginia to Florida. The HR office told me that I could call the Lake County CPR office and see if they had a course that had an opening. 

We looked at a couple of new homes being built on Thursday night. There is a new development opening that is building two up to five bedrooms homes in the area. We were looking at 4 bedroom single level homes. We talked a lot about the renting verses buying. We did put a LOT of money into our old home. It was a town house built in 1990 and we bought it in 2002 and it needed many repairs through the years. It was a 3 bedroom 2 bath home which we bought when the kids were very young. 1300 sq feet total. 

I went out with my cousin to her house and we had dinner there. My husband took my oldest daughter to her job in Orlando and stayed in Orlando walking, window shopping, and spending time with our middle daughter and son. They came home when our oldest daughter got out of work. 

Friday: We decided to buy a home. We are currently renting and have been here since July 12th. I have been here since August 5th. The house is a 4 bedroom 2 bath home. Two car garage. Very small yard (I have to cut grass, so I prefer a small yard). It is in a development called Chelsea Oaks South. More on this later. 

Saturday: We spent the day at home and enjoyed a day just hanging out together. We cleaned house, took naps, fed animals, watched home movies. We had sloppy joes for dinner. 

Sunday: We are having dinner with our cousins tonight. They are bringing lasagna and cheesecake. We are providing the salad and some watermelon. I went to Aldi this morning and spent 145 dollars. We had a trunk full of groceries and honestly everything is filled in the pantry and freezer. It is a great feeling. 

 

Frugal Activities

We are using what we have to care for the family (there's five of us). My daughter needed her hair cut for her new job. She started yesterday. We did not have the funds from the sale of the house yet and I ended up cutting her hair in the bathroom. I cut an inch off the back and trimmed the rest of it. It looks pretty good.

It rained yesterday so the yard got watered.

I emailed the title company this morning to see how long it takes to disperse the funds from the sale of the house. I am waiting for a response back from them.

Breakfast this morning will be either scrambled eggs with frozen hash browns that I will put in the oven or egg sandwiches (we still have some left over hamburger rolls). I am pretty sure that the egg sandwiches will be requested.

I am waiting to hear form my old job when I will receive my paid time off cash out (277 hours) and my 133 hours of sick time at my base rate of pay (32.78) since I need this money to add to the funds from the house to pay bills and have the rest in savings for the down payment on a new to us home.

I have to contact the folks representing my 403B to see if I can get this rolled over into an IRA.

Dinner tonight is about 7 potatoes cut into chunks, the last four carrots, half an onion, some garlic powder, basil, and pepper were out into the crock pot with a one pound package of beef tips. The beef tips were in the grocery package from my mother in law. I added the last can of mushroom soup to the crock pot.

We are running out of things and the freezer remains full. The fridge is half full. The cabinets are getting empty. The bills are caught up until the end of August. I should get my PTO cash out on August 31st since my last two day paycheck was on August 17th.

you tube

The landlord got a new dryer delivered to us nine days ago. We have been having issues with it not drying clothes well and I finally was able to figure out why. The air flow to the vent was blocked by "wadded plastic and paper" leading to the outside exhaust.

Holy crap. I was able to watch a you tube video to see how to take off the clamps and silver tubing to get the blocked stuff out of the exhaust.

It worked. I am so proud and horrified that there was a bunch of stuff wadded up into the tubing and exhaust. We are very lucky. The dryer did dry a full load of clothes in about 30 minutes.

Tuesday triumphs

The house is finally closed and sold. I was told that funds will be allowed to be dispersed as soon as possible. We have some bills to get caught up on, rent to pay for September (I all ready paid 875 and owe 650 for September first for a total of 1500) and would like to pay October's rent since I will not have a pay check until the first week of October.

I would like to put 90 percent of the money in the bank for a down payment for a new to us home. I am going to have to work on saving as much as I can to have a reasonable down payment and to ensure that this buying process goes a bit more smoothly then the selling/moving process.

My oldest daughter starts her new job this afternoon. Everyone was on their own for breakfast. I told everyone that there was a bi of cereal amd milk or eggs for breakfast. They all chose eggs.

Lunch is a hot meal today since my daughter has to work. I am cooking a box of elbow pasta and using a jar of spaghetti sauce for lunch. I have a package of 15 meatballs from the grocery package that my mother in law sent us and will be using them in the sauce. We have some left over corn and green beans in the fridge that need to be eaten, along with a small amount of tomato and cucumber slices.

Monday

I washed the comforter from my oldest daughter's bed and hung it over the dining room table to dry. Breakfast/lunch was a choice of cereal (we have about a half a box of pumpkin spice cheerios left), ramen noodles, the last couple hot dogs on rolls, some left overs from last night, and the last bit of cake for dessert.

Tonight's dinner was burgers. I put them in the oven because I was not comfortable using the hot plate to cook them as I don't feel the hot plate gets "hot enough".

The ground beef was mixed with one egg, a couple handfuls of breadcrumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasonings and put shaped into patties for the oven. I made the only package of alfredo noodles that my girls requested. I cut up the last bit of cucumber that we had in the fridge, sliced the last tomato we had, and cut some onion slices for the burgers. I topped the finished burgers with sliced cheese. We only had four slices of cheese so I did not have cheese on mine.

I offered everyone plain hamburger buns or onion rolls for their burgers. I offered cucumber on the side was a veggie.

Monday is our trash pick up day. The city we live in offers curb side trash pick up. Our trash has been reduced since we also have curbside recycling on Thursday mornings. I am loving this service since when we lived in Virginia we had to take our own trash to the county landfill. We pay 8 dollars a month for this service.

Monday madness

The currier was here this morning to help us with signing paperwork. He left and faxed everything from his office. The buyers had their closing at 2 pm today.

So, DONE!!!

WRONG! I got a text message at 445 telling me to check my email because there was a revision of the first page of the document on the buyers end. I am supposed to sign it, scan, and email back to them. The email was times 4:48 today.

So my husband and I were able to down load the document and take it to his cousin's house. There son printed it out for us and we signed it. My husband's cousin was not home and, we unable to scan it to the title company. I emailed the realtor and told her and she stated that the title company needed it by morning.

SERIOUSLY!!!!

Anyway, the first page of the document is sitting on their desk at my husband's cousin's house with my email, the title company email, and a flash drive of mine. Closing is delayed until tomorrow.

My husband got upset with me. He asked me to call the realtor at 3 because he said he would feel better if everything was completed. I sent her numerous text messages (5 total with 5 of her responses) and spoke to her twice over the phone. He is pissed off at me about the title company and the number revision on the buyers end. I tried to tell him that I spoke to her twice and showed him the test messages. He ended up yelling me me for the ten minute ride back to our house. He accused me of renting the house (which he knew about and was OK with since we needed a place to live) with out his knowledge, he loves the rental home, and wants to make an offer on the rental home in the spring. He yelled at me about a couple of other things, like the budget, meals, our lifestyle, how I pay the bills, and when my starting day at work is. Some of these things, like closing on the house, and my start day at my new job are out of my control.

I tried to tell him that I am doing the best I can with what I have. We both agreed to move 1000 miles across the country. The kids agreed that as a family we could move. Everyone (all five of us) felt that it was in our best interest to take the job offer, relocate, start new lines, get away from the cold weather, and begin our future.

Sunday plans

We all slept in this morning in hopes of recovering from the past few days and to improve our moods. It worked. The house chores are done. We all had various things for lunch as I told everyone to have what they could find.

My son finished off the last of the honey nut cheerios. My daughter finished off the last of the pasta that was left over from last night. I had a tomato sandwich on an onion roll. My husband opted to have ramen noodles. My daughter opted to have a bowl of chicken noodle soup.

My kids helped and did all their chores. I do not give my kids allowances because I feel that they are to do chores because we have to work together as a family. My middle daughter and my son cleaned the cat box. All three kids sorted through the recycling and put everything in the garage. My son took out the trash and put it in the trash container in the garage.

My middle daughter washed the kitchen floor with a bit of water and a very small amount of spic and span, I told her to use less than a cap full of spic and span as funds are tight and we are trying to make things last. I washed two of the kids blankets from their beds and hung them over the dining room chairs to dry.

My husband cleaned our bathroom. The kids are in charge of cleaning their own bathroom.

We are going to our cousin's house for dinner tonight. We are bringing the protein and using some of the grocery package from my mother in law. We are bringing the four small steaks and two containers of frozen "red smashed potatoes" that came in the grocery package. Our cousin and her family are supplying burgers and hot dogs for the kids. There are five kids and four adults. They are supplying canned corn and beans. It should be a great evening.

I took our a package of ground beef to make hamburgers tomorrow for the five of us. I have one fresh tomato left, a couple of hamburger buns from the bread store, and a package of onion rolls for the burgers. I am also going to make some potato salad tomorrow morning to have with our burgers. I don't have a grill or anything like that so we use the oven a lot.

I am hoping that everyone has a good day.

What's been happening?

Wednesday, my mother in law had two boxes of groceries delivered to us from Ohama Steaks. I was so surprised. Immediately we put the food in the freezer. There was two packages of pork ribs, one package of four filet, two packages of frozen smashed potatoes, two packages of frozen seasoned green beans, four packages of mini meat loaves, and some various other gifts. It was amazing and everything looks great in the freezer. Wednesday we just stayed at home and ended up having a bit of a disagreement about the budget.

Thursday, my husband and his cousins took us all out to historic mount dora. There are a lot of shops, paved areas for walking, and a lot of time to sit and enjoy each other's company. His cousins took us out for lunch. I attempted to pay with the cash we had in our budget and I was told to keep the money. I ended up having a chicken salad on wheat bread and it was pretty good. My kids had hot dogs. My husband had some potato salad and a grilled cheese with tomato sandwich. Overall it was a pleasant day and we ended up enjoying everyone's company.

Thursday night was a bit difficult. I ended up watching a movie with my husband in our room and I didn't get to bed until almost 1 AM which is very late for me. I am usually in bed before 8:30 which really hasn't happened since I got to our new home in Florida two weeks ago.

Friday morning, I got up and was ready to take my daughter to her job interview. She wanted to wait until 11:30 to leave and I tried to explain to her that we may get lost, traffic, etc etc, but in her world these things are not an issue. Go Figure.

The realtor called me on Friday morning to tell me that I had to finish paying the water/sewer and electric bill on our house before closing on August 21st. She said that it should have already should have bene paid. Well I tried to explain that I used all my savings to move and had not recieved my PTO yet from work. Needless to say, I was able to get the two bills paid. I have 68 dollars in my checking account left and have to pay my mother in law back for the electric bill expense. I called the realtor and gave her the confirmation numbers and sent an online statement to her email address also.

The title company and the realtor called me again before we left the house to take my daughter to her interview. They stated that I had to sign one last document before closing on Monday, August 21st. I explained to them that I was not in Virginia anymore and that the document would have to be signed digitally or electronically. Apparently that is a problem because both of these ladies stated that I would have to come to Virginia to sign the paperwork. I explained to them that I did not have the money to come to Virginia and that this would have to be worked out because I am not in a better financial spot than I was prior to finishing up paying the sewer/water/electric bill on the house. They gave me a difficult time about not being able to fly to Virginia. I told them that this was their concern because I had been in contact with them since June (while I was still living in Virginia) and told them repeatedly that I was leaving to go to Florida to be with my family on August 5th (after my last day of work). My realtor knew this and I called her twice the last week I was in Virginia to make sure that she was aware that I would be leaving the state since she told me that if there was anything left to sign it could be done electronically.

I was not in the best mood since I spent the night before watching a movie with my husband on Netflix (he pays for that), didn't sleep well, spent all day Thursday walking around a historic village, had gotten up early to get my kid to her interview, and had the previous phone call about the utilities.

I told the realtor and the title company that this was their concern and that they would have to figure out how to get the document to me since apparently it would not be emailed or faxed. I spoke to them at 11 olcock and they did not get back to me until Friday afternoon at 4:45 when they told me that they were going to send a currier to my home that was a notary to assist with signing of the document. FINE.

My daughter had a job interview in Orlando yesterday at Universal studios. This is a 51 minute drive with numerous tolls one way. We left the house at 1130 yesterday and her interview was at 12:45. We did not leave Universal Studios until 5 pm and did not get home last night until after 6 oclock due to the traffic.

She earned herself a seasonal part time job from now until the first week of November. Universal is hosting a Halloween Adventure House or something like that. Even though there is a commute and tolls involved I was proud of her for presenting herself and standing out from the hundreds of job hunters at the job fair.

Friday night my husband and my middle DD baked the pork spare ribs and heated up some frozen veggies. They also had made a cake for dessert (boxed mix with frosting). I ate dinner, cleaned up part of the house, and ended up having a disagreement with my husband about our house, the closing date, and why I didn't finish paying the utility and focused on the rent for September instead. I explained to him that I was afraid closing would have been pushed back and I wanted to make sure that the rent for September was paid in full to prevent any issues. Needless to say, he said that I was very anxious and should have known that closing would go as scheduled.

I ended up going to my room, taking a shower, and watching another movie before I fell asleep.
Yesterday was a very long day.

Saturday!! Finally a day that I could stay home. I ended up taking the meat off the whole bird I cooked earlier this week and made chicken salad with it using half an older onion, three stalks of celery, spices, mayo, and a small amount of mustard. I had two chicken breast in the fridge thawed. I put them in a baking pan with the rest of the onion, two cloves of garlic, and the last bit of spaghetti sauce in the jar I found in the fridge. I baked this for a little over an hour in a covered casserole dish and shredded the chicken when it was finished. I will add some more sauce and top it with some cheese in a little bit. I am going to boil some pasta and make a small salad to go with it for dinner.
The bones form the whole bird, the veggie scraps, and everything else was put into the crock pot and simmered all day. In about another hour I will take it all out and strain it. I will have a nice bowl of chicken stock for the freezer.

I stayed home all day. I pulled bedsheets off everyone's beds and put them in the wash. They will be dried eventually and put back on beds. I turned the air from 78 degrees to 77 because it is so humid in the house. I asked my husband to find a dehumidifier that we may need to purchase.

I am meeting with a realtor on Wednesday to see what kind of information I can get about buying our "retirement forever home". This will be the home that we will grow old in and will maintain us in our senior years. I am not buying a home on Wednesday but just getting some much needed beginning information.

Air conditioning

The house we are renting is 1800 sq feet with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, dining room, kitchen, living room, and utility room. It is an open floor plan. It also has a garage. The garage is kept closed and locked. It is very warm in there and does not have air conditioning. We keep the door locked in the utility room to prevent air conditioning from going through to the garage. The stove is electric and we use the dish washer once a day.

We have kept the air at 78 degrees. We have five ceiling fans running to help circulate air movement.

Our first electric bill came and it is 188 dollars. We moved from a town house of 1333 sq feet, three bedrooms, two baths, no garage, and open floor plan for the living room, dining room, and kitchen.

This bill does not include the dryer that the property manager bought and had installed on Sunday.

Our town house had electric costs of about 150 a month because my husband would keep the air conditioning at about 70 to 75 and we used to use the dryer frequently.

The lease states that clothes lines are not allowed. I used to have a drying rack but it did not come with the move because of the shape that it is was in. It was breaking and falling apart.

Does anyone have experience with a home that is 1800 square feet and know if this is an accurate electric bill for a family of five? Our water is heated by electricity. My son takes a shower every night. I take a shower or bath every OTHER night, my oldest daughter takes a shower every morning, and my middle daughter takes a shower every OTHER night. My husband will take a shower every day or every other day depending on how he feels when he wakes up.

I am considering turning the air conditioning up to 79 degrees and continue to use ceiling fans. I am looking for input from folks to see if this is a reasonable bill or not. We lived in our town house for 15 years in Virginia and are used to the utility payments. This is our first electric bill for the rental home.

Wednesday happenings

Well, I heard back from our realtor and she stated that our old house is still scheduled for closing on August 21st. This is a very hard time and is stressful because I didn't really understand everything that went into selling a house and moving across country from Virginia to Florida. I haven't heard back from my new job yet to see if I can start early. I am assuming that it is not going to happen since I have contacted them twice last week. I am scheduled for a employee health physical on August 24th and start hospital orientation September 18th.

We received a refund check from our old cable company in the amount of 148 dollars. I asked my husband to put it in his account and I would be able to transfer 100 of the money to my account to put towards September's rent. I have paid 875 so far towards September's rent and will get my last two day pay check tomorrow by direct deposit into my account. That money will go straight towards September's rent and hopefully will have closing next week to help offset the budget.

I still have some Virginia bills to finish paying. I have all ready budgeted and paid for the first month's round of utility bills since my family has been here since July 12th and moved in on the 15th of July.

The dishwasher has been started. The counters wiped off. I found a "running toilet" in my kids bathroom and have emailed the property management company and send in a maintenance request to get this fixed. The last thing I want is a high water bill for something that is easily fixed. I looked in the tank I am not sure if it is the gasket or seal that is making the water run. It is stated in my lease that they respond to maintenance and tenant requests pretty quickly.

The kids are own their own for breakfast. Lunch is going to be sandwiches (lunch meat with cheese/PBJ/ or hotdogs).

Dinner tonight is french toast using bread ends, milk, and the last few eggs we have in the fridge. We are also going to have pork sausage patties. (I may attempt to make sausage gravy if I am able to. I have never made it before, but it would help keep the pantry filled).

Other than that we are staying home today. I would like to finish the cup of decaf tea I made. My son called me a "big fat meanie" because I reminded him that he needs to put his shorts (his only beloved pair) in the laundry to be washed tonight.  If my only concern was being a "big fat meanie" because I wanted to wash my autistic son's (he's 19) clothes I would be OK!

Tuesday dinner

We bought a whole chicken from Publix for a total of 6 dollars. I am going to have to look at the price per pound when I open it. I am going to put this in the crock pot with carrots, celery, and some spices. I don't want to put potato in it since we have eaten so many potatoes this weekend.

I am going to offer a small salad to go with dinner tonight. We have some green leaf lettuce, tomato, and cucumber that I bought on Sunday that we can use. The dressing is either generic buttermilk ranch or generic thousand island for those who would want some.

Monday & Tuesday happenings

I was determined not to go anywhere yesterday. I eventually did go to the park with my husband and my one daughter. My other daughter and son did not want to go so they stayed home. Our property manager delivered the dryer on Sunday and we did use it for three loads of laundry yesterday. I didn't do much yesterday as I wanted to get some rest.

I folded two loads of laundry from the other day (my husband had taken it to the laundry mat before the dryer arrived) and folded the three from yesterday.

Breakfast yesterday: cereal (cheerios and milk)
Lunch yesterday: Left overs (choices of grilled chicken, pork with mushroom sauce, salad, potato salad, corn casserole, and/or baked potatoes)
Dinner yesterday: Left overs continued as lunch offerings.

As you know food is expensive and we are not thrilled to throw food away. This is what we have left from our weekend meals:

three baked potatoes
some mushroom sauce
two grilled chicken tenderloin
a small amount of pork

We will finish this off today for lunches.

Sunday Happenings

The property manager of the rental house had a new electric dryer delivered for us. It came this morning from Lowe's. It did not have the clamps and we bought them ourselves. The cost was 1.98 for a pack of two. My husband was able to get them on the dryer connector to the ventilation hose.

Well, managing two household budgets is difficult. I had about 580 dollars in my checking until Thursday when I get my last two day pay from my old job. I am still waiting on my PTO to be paid out. I emailed the realtor to make sure we are still scheduled for closing on August 21st. She stated that it was still scheduled and planned for that day. I paid the old water bill from Virginia (we still have a balance and this will be paid off when we get the house closed), I paid the new water bill from Florida, and I paid the new electric bill from Florida. I paid an old doctor bill from Virginia.

My husband's cousins are coming over for dinner and bringing their two adult boys. They told me that they are bringing grilled chicken tenders, baked potatoes, and corn casserole. I told then that I will have buttered green beans (frozen), potato salad that I made today, and vanilla cupcakes for those who want some kind of dessert. I will also make a plain simple salad (green leaf lettuce, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and celery.
I stopped at the grocery store Publix. I still have to find out what stores are in the area. I have been here a week yesterday and my husband stated that there is a Winn Dixie in town, an Aldi in another town about 15 minutes away, a dollar store (I love dollar stores), plus I believe that there is a Save a Lot.

Here's what I bought this morning:
Gallon of generic milk 3.79
2 liter soda 0.99 (BOGO)
lb carrots 0.99
one whole chicken publix generic brand 6.00 a bird
cupcake holders 0.99
one cucumber 0.75
turkey breast/ham slices lunch meat 5.99
two packages of ground beef 4.95, 4.95 (each pound was 3.99 YIKES!!!!!)
one bag of frozen califlower/brocolli mix 1.95
one frozen soup mix (frozen veggies )1.95
3 lb hot dogs 4.39 (YIKES!)
2 liter soda (BOGO)
fresh tomatoes 1.29 lb bought almost two pounds worth 2.30
generic fabric softner sheets 1.59 (we will use each one twice)
Cheerios (BOGO) 3.83
Cheerios (BOGO)
Green leaf lettuce (1.69)
10 lg leg quarters 7.90
two gallons of spring water .86  .86
2 liter soda (BOGO)   0.99
two liter soda (BOBO)
5 chocolate bars

We spent a total of 69.15 with taxes included. We have spices, many baking items, fresh potatoes, three packages of frozen veggies, three small packages of chicken breast, numerous loaves of bread, half a box of generic rice krispies, some box mixes of rice, granola bars, four eggs, condiments, two boxes of pasta, and three jars of spaghetti sauce. My husband bought this prior to my arrival and I have been using what he has in the cabinets and adding to it to make meals. I am hoping that we can get through the next two or three weeks with what we have. I would like to get our finances in order and finish paying off Virginia household budget stuff, while beginning the budget for our new home in Florida. I paid a portion of our rent at the beginning of the month for September. My pay this week will go straight to the September rent.

Some times I wonder if we made the right decision to move but we are here now and that is where we are going to stay. Things will improve when the house closes and I can get the bills paid off. I requested to start early at my job on Thursday and hoping to hear back from HR this week. That would make life much easier instead of waiting until September 18th.

Dinner tonight

Well, it's official. I have been in Florida a week now and my family has been in Florida a month. I have to say that it is very difficult to be apart from each other. I had to stay behind to finish school and put in my clinical hours for the last course I was taking. I also had to finish the last three weeks at my old job. I ended up staying at my friend's house for three weeks while my family was in Florida since our house was on the market and it sold in 48 hours.

Dinner tonight will be easy. I already have the crock pot on and put in the only package of pork chops I found in the freezer. There's 6 in the package which will be just the right amount for the five of us and leaves one left over for who ever wants it. I sliced up one whole onion, put the pork in the crock pot with some garlic powder, and one can of mushroom soup that I added some water to.

This is going to cook all day. I have some unopened long grain rice that we can put in the steamer later and will simmer some green beans from the freezer. We still have some mixed fruit left that needs to be finished today.

Today's frugal activities

Breakfast: scrambled eggs (we each had two)

Dinner: one thin sliced chicken breast marinated and breaded (dollar store bread crumbs), left over steamed broccoli from the other night, a "flavored chicken" rice kit, fresh fruit from the fridge that needs to go, and left over carrot cake (a very small portion) for those who want it.

I cut the grass in the front and back yard, and sides of the house. It was a big job and took about 45 minutes. The house was vacuumed. Cat box cleaned, four loads of laundry washed, and recycling sorted. I broke down some of the boxes that we unpacked and they are stacked in the garage for next Thursday (which is our recycling day). The kitchen floor was mopped. All I have left to do is vacuum the dining room after dinner. The kids loaded and unloaded the dishwasher this morning.

The property manager is going to have a dryer delivered over the weekend. I have four loads of laundry drying over chairs and I may have my husband go to the laundry mat to use two of their dryers. Our old drying rack was broken so we didn't take it for the move to Florida. I was looking over our lease this morning and clothes lines are not permitted in the backyard. I wish they were.

Simple things

OK, so my family has been here (husband and kids since July 12th) and I have been here since Saturday, August 5th.

We had the following meals this week so far:
Sunday Lunch: Tacos with trimmings (cheese, tomato, salsa)
Sunday Dinner: Oven baked chicken wings, mashed potatoes, fruit bowl, and birthday cake.
Monday Lunch: Hot dogs, fruit bowl
Monday Dinner: More oven baked chicken wings, left over taco stuff, left over mashed potatoes
Tuesday Breakfast: Generic Rice Krispies with fat free milk
Tuesday Dinner: Broccoli, thin sliced potatoes, and two chicken breast sliced thin, marinated and breaded.
Wednesday Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, canned hash
Wednesday Dinner: Lunch meat sandwiches, fruit
Thursday Breakfast: Generic Rice Krispies, fat free milk
Thursday Lunch: Grilled cheese and the last two sliced tomato sandwiches (no tomato for the kids)
Thursday Dinner: We went out for Chick Fil A since we were going to walk around the park.

We have been to the park several times to walk around. It is a very nice place to enjoy outside. We have been riding around the area looking at options for housing in the community (we will buy I believe once the old house closes).

I emailed my new employer to see if I could move up my start date from September 18th. I am waiting to hear back from them to see if this is possible.

We do not have a clothes dryer. The property company is supposed to have one delivered on Sunday. I emailed the company today for the second time to see when it would be delivered. In the meantime, we are washing clothes in cold water and hanging clothes over the dining room chairs until they are dry.

Trash pick up is twice a week (Monday and Thursday mornings). We have always taken our household trash to the community landfill when we were living in Virginia. Town trash pick up is new for us and I can not say enough about it. We also have recycling pick up on Monday mornings. They weigh your recycling and you earn points to use on city goods when you accumulate enough. I would like to see free admission to events in the area as a perk. I understand that recycling is mandated, and not opposed to it. We recycled in Virginia and did all of the hauling ourselves. I am really liking the recycling and trash pick up. We put two huge cardboard boxes out with all the boxes we used for unpacking inside and those were picked up also.

The house is 1800 square feet, one level, 4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, and has a two car garage. My husband has his car in the garage. I am nervous about putting mine in the garage because I may have trouble backing it out. I am not the most skilled driver.

We have central air. The blinds are closed in the house from about 10 am until about 6 pm. WE also have five ceiling fans that we use to help circulate air. The central air is on 78. The house is all electric too.

It's been a long time.

Well, it's been a long time. I finally finished the MSN degree this week. All of my kids are graduated high school and we have moved from Virginia to Florida. We are waiting for August 21 to arrive because we sold our house in Virginia!! August 21st is the closing date. I have a new job waiting at the hospital in this area and I am patiently for the board of nursing to accept my background screening and fingerprinting that I completed.

My last day at my old job was August 5th. I am going to receive all of my vacation time back (about 270 hours) at my base rate of pay (32.78) minus taxes, retirement, and health insurance. I have another two day pay coming next week to be direct deposited.

The fees with moving were astronomical. We paid a moving company, paid for new paint and carpeting in our old house, paid the rent and security deposit for the new rental home, background checks (for five), pet deposit, and a four night stay in a hotel while we were getting the painting and carpet down in the old house.

There's been so much money from my savings account that we used to finance the move. We did not put anything on a credit card (I don't have any, but my husband has one).

Once the house closes we will be considering whether to buy again or to continue renting long term. We are waiting for the first round of bills to come for the new house (utilities). We have to change the two vehicle registrations, we got updated insurance information from our old company, they are just going to transfer it to Florida, and we have to finish paying a few bills from Virginia.

The goal is to close on the old house, put some money back in savings (we have none at the moment due to the move), establish residency, and get our finances in order. I have health insurance until the end of August. I will get employer sponsored health insurance 60 days after my start date of September 18th, 2017. We have all of our prescriptions filled, been to the dentist, got all of our needed appointments done before leaving Virginia.

Pantry challenges...

My daughter made hamburgers last night with lettuce, tomato, and cheese. They were really good. I appreciated her help.

November and December were difficult on the bank account. We had numerous trips to the doctors and dentist. January brings an end to the dentists with two more appointments. Our dog had to go to the vet last night, since her old incision from surgery has opened. She has antibiotics now. It was an expensive trip last night.

Some times, it gets upsetting being the only income in a family of five. We are going to get through this month with less chaos and stress. I'm thankful that my Christmas shopping for the kids is done. I have to get something for my husband and I am finished.

Pantry challenge contines

I have two polish sausage links in the fridge thawing. We are going to saute this with sliced onion and use the steamer to make brown rice with black beans (the rice and beans were bought in bulk). We are going to have fresh salad to go with our meal this evening.

The two visits at the dentist this week cost greater than 500 dollars in co payments. I made the payments in cash and have the rest of the kids work done in January. Our budget has taken a big hit due to the dentist, but the bills have been paid in will continue to be paid in full.

Continued challenge

I have a small bowl of frozen meatballs made from October in the freezer. They are in the fridge thawing along with a container of Italian sausage in spaghetti sauce. I am going to mix these two with the four left over turkey meatballs I have from the other day and add more spaghetti sauce.

We are going to cook some spaghetti, serve the meatballs/sausage combo over it with additional sauce and make a small salad. We have ranch and thousand island dressing for salad.

Continuing with pantry/freezer/fridge clean out...

Today I have a 3 lb container that is half full of BBQ pork that needs to be eaten. It's been taking out of the freezer and is thawing now. We will have left over pork and beans in the fridge, and a small pan of "Jiffy" corn bread that is in the pantry. We will have a small salad on the side. It's about using what we have.

The dentist was very expensive yesterday. My husband and I spoke to the kids regarding Christmas. This year it is going to be very small and since the kids are adult age (20, 18, and 17), they should be able to understand that finances are leaner now.

I hope everyone has a great day!

My own pantry challenge

Well, I'm on vacation from work for three weeks. It started Sunday and doesn't end until December 18th. I am cleaning up the kitchen and found a few things lurking in the freezer that need to be used.

I figured this is a great time while I am off to cut down some expenses. My husband took my daughter to the dentist to get some cavities filled. We are talking big bucks. $$$$$$$. I'm waiting on the sticker shock and phone call.

I am making turkey meatballs, using some lurking bread crumbs, half a jar of "pizza" sauce, lurking motzerella cheese, and some needing to get rid of onion. I also have stuff in the bread machine for "Italian bread", going to make a small salad, and an "apple crisp" with the last four apples that have been sitting on the counter.

I can do all this without having to get to the grocery store. We could probably have meals all month without needing to get groceries, with the exception of milk.

What's been cooking...

My daughters made home made mac and cheese yesterday! Using pasta, a white sauce (flour, butter, milk, and added the last bit of Gouda cheese we had in the fridge), and some garlic, it was just amazing.

I am working tonight. My daughters put a 8 pound chicken in the oven with carrots, celery, and potatoes. We are going to have some cauliflower and peas with our meal.

Dinner 11/1/15

My husband and kids make cheese burgers and hamburgers last night using a pound of ground beef. They found a recipe online at allrecipies.com. My kids are working more in the kitchen. Our cheeseburgers had lettuce and tomato on them. They were pretty good.

It's November.

Wow. I feel like I have been out of the blogging world a long time. It's November and my schedule is lightening up some at work and grad school. Home life is good with my husband taking on more responsibility, such as grocery shopping and meal planning. He started last week and seems to enjoy it. There's only so much I can do on any given day and something has to go, so it's control over dinner plans.

Last night we went to a Halloween party. My husband made pulled pork in the crock pot. It's basically a pork roast, with sliced onions and peppers, and added BBQ sauce. When it's done cooking, we shred it and serve it on rolls. When we left the party last night, there's was still a small portion in the crock pot, so we left it there, along with the last of the rolls (we bought 16, and there was about 5 left).

My daughter adopted a 42 pound dog from the no kill shelter. She's been here a month and is so much fun. We have three dogs now and I can't believe how much food she eats! She had a procedure done to get spayed prior to Sarah adopting her and there was a benign tumor on her mammary glands. It's been removed. She still has her stitches in place. We have to get her back to the vet to get them taken out. I took her to the vet and had to get an antibiotic and steroids for her since her incision site was warm, tender to touch, and red. It was generating a lot of heat. It's so much better now. There was a big cost involved, but we had all ready taken responsibility for her not knowing about the possible infection or inflammation.

We all went to the dentist in October. My kids have seven cavities between them. It's going to be a large cost to get them filled and the portion I have to pay is going to be spread out. Mary goes in December to have three of hers filled. Sarah will go in January, and Mary will go back in February. I just don't have the money to get them all done at once.

Graduate school update. I am finishing class four out of eleven. I am still paying cash every two weeks for tuition for one class at a time. It's a bit harder since I decided not to work overtime this month and I am having a "stay vacation" for three weeks after Thanksgiving from work. I'm kind of excited to have three weeks off with pay and hang out with my family. We are staying home together and just going to enjoy the down time. Since I am working Christmas, we will be enjoying our Christmas holiday early!

It's 61 degrees in the house. I have not turned on the heat yet. I want to. I should. The electric company wishes I would so they can get some money. My budget payment got lowered in October. We were paying 157 a month for the budget plan and now we pay 133 every month for a year. It's nice to see a lower cost. No heat yet Debbie!!!! Keep that bill down.

Finance update: My student loan from undergrad is receiving 200 dollars every two weeks. The minimum payment is 167 a month. My equity line is receiving their minimum payment plus 300 dollars every two weeks. I'm making big dents in these two bills. I'm hoping to have them paid off at the same time in full. I would like to only have my mortgage and tuition in less then two years.

Using what we have...

I took the last whole chicken out of the freezer to defrost. I am going to put it in the crock pot with one whole onion thinly sliced, four stalks of celery, five large carrots (I had to open my new 5 lb bag of carrots), poultry seasoning, thyme, and four potatoes (for the carb eating people in my family). I will add about two cups of water to this and let it cook all day in my crock pot. We will have the last bit of opened stir fry veggies that are lurking in the freezer.

The chicken was bought a while back at Aldi 0.95 cents a pound! Who can beat that kind of price for protein! It's cheap, easy to make, and can feed my family for a couple of days.

The first meal will be a crock pot meal. I will take all the stock out after and put it in the freezer for soup at some point. I will end up taking all the meat off the bones to make chicken salad or BBQ chicken sandwiches for the kids. The skin and bones will be put back into the crock pot later to make a second round of chicken stock for the freezer. I am hoping to have enough chicken left over to make chicken and gravy to serve over egg noodles for the kids and my DH. They love it!

I'm hoping to stretch this bird!

Using things up...

We had one chicken quarter in the fridge from a few days ago. I baked it with several spices, added the last three carrots, half an onion, and some celery from the fridge. My husband and I had that for dinner last night.

I had some frozen cheese tortellini to give the kids last night with some pasta sauce for their dinner.

Tonight's dinner is continuing on the same use it up theme. I have frozen bread ends in the freezer. I'm going to thaw them out and made french toast for the kids dinner. I have some frozen left over bean soup from Easter that is thawing for my husband and myself. We are working to keep our budget intact and using up what has been lurking around in the freezer.

I don't eat pasta, bread, potatoes, or rice any more. My husband and kids do.

It's June

Can you believe that I haven't posted in a while. I found that with school, the gym, work, and my family that something had to go for a little bit. I just want to say that I really miss blogging and reading how other folks are incorporating frugal living into their own lifestyles.

It's June. Who would have thought. Here's a few updates:

Sarah (20) is still working full time for a temp agency. She's decided that she wants to return to community college. She spend 6 months there a couple of years ago and dropped out. I am willing to work with her to help fund some tuition as long as she is serious about attending and maintaining her grades.

Mary (18) graduated high school last week! She has a part time job being a babysitter a couple days a week and wants to attend community college. We will begin applying after we get her a state ID.

I told both girls that they need to work on getting their permit and driver's license.

Kevin (16) is in his last week of 10th grade. Friday is the last day of school and my baby will be a junior!! My kids went to the dentist and only Kevin has some cavities. He goes back on June 15th to get them filled. I will be paying in cash for these.

My work is going well. I am up for my annual evaluation and hope to get a pay increase. I didn't qualify for the cost of living adjustment since my base rate of pay is all ready at the higher end of my clinical ladder and skill level. My director mentioned that to me this morning. Oh well. I do have to complete two case studies for my evaluation and this shouldn't be too difficult.

My car needs an oil change soon.

My husband is well and in good spirits. He has been doing a great job making dinners while I am working. I have picked up extra time at work to help pay for the classes I am taking for the master's degree in nursing education.

I REALLY need to make a menu plan for June meals. The bills are paid every month on time. I had to buy a lap top for school and it was very expensive. My savings took a hit and I am left with 70 dollars in it. I would like to get that boosted up to one thousand, or to where it was a year ago, 3,850 dollars. It's going to take time. It's difficult sometimes to be one income and attempting to support a family of five and pay for a master's degree program (I refuse to take out a loan for it, and I am still paying off my bachelor's degree loan. My goal is to become debt free).

Hey there

I want to apologize for the lack of posts in the past few weeks. I have been really busy with work, family, and my master's degree class. I appreciate the email to checking up on me.

We are all doing well. The kids are getting ready to finish for the school year. I'm hoping my daughter graduates. My oldest is working full time at night. My youngest is in 10th grade and seems to like it sill.

The last time I was blogging, I stated that I decided to join a gym. I did and pay for a personal trainer. I started at the gym on March 4th weighing 220.8 pounds. I am 5 feet 5 inches. I weigh 210 as of today. I am at the gym 6 mornings a week and stay for 30-45 minutes some times longer. I am eating loads of fresh veggies and fruit, and lean meats. I cut out bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, and stuff along those lines.

I will make more of an effort to get back into blogging about frugal living. I guess some would say that getting a gym membership with a personal trainer is not frugal, but my mental health has improved and my stress level is much better.

School is a work in progress. At 2225 a class, it's very expensive to be a graduate student. I am blessed to be able to pay cash for one class at a time, even though it's a bit difficult on the budget. I didn't want to take out a loan for this. I'm working on getting out of debt, even though I incur some debt being in class.

I hope everyone is well and in good spirits!

dinner

Ground turkey tacos with fresh pineapple.  

dinner tonight

lunch today

Cheeseburger, on lettuce and cucumber, with tangerine, apple, and berries

dinner

My husband put the last of the pork roast we had in the crock pot with some onion and BBQ sauce. He made BBQ pork sandwiches and steamed some corn. That's all. I'm leaving for work in an hour and need to get ready.

dinner tonight...

Home made meat balls, veggie garden sauce, green peas...DH and the kids can have some penne pasta. I'm opting out of the pasta, since I'm trying to improve my eating habits.

What's been cooking...life.

I put a beef chuck roast in the crock pot this morning. I bought it at Aldi last week for 4.99 lb. It was 2 and a 1/2 pounds of red meat. Well, we have about three slices left of chuck roast. I simmered it in the crock pot with cut up carrots, five small potatoes, a half of an older onion, and two teaspoons of jarred garlic and Worcestershire sauce. My husband made a small salad, steamed Brussels sprouts and green peas. I passed on the potatoes.

It was heaven. We have a small amount of veggies left, three slices of roast, and a cup of beef stock for the freezer.

Last night, we had some left overs. The choices were taco meat with cheese, lettuce, tomato, taco sauce, chopped onions, brown rice with black beans, On Tuesday evening, my daughter made pork chops, green peas, corn, and a small salad.

Work is going well for the most part. I've cut down on the overtime. YEAH!! I started a new medication for anxiety, and I'm only one day three. My husband said he thinks I am smiling more. That's kind of nice to hear. I have been going to the gym and working with a trainer. It's expensive, 150 dollars a month for 30 minute sessions once a week for the trainer. The gym costs 14.99 a month for the machines, and full access to the gym. I've met the trainer twice so far, and been using the machines and elliptical 7 out of 9 days so far. I like the gym and I do consider it "hard work". I've also been working on my eating habits. I'm working to incorporate more protein into my diet, less carbs, and more veggies.

dinner

Steak strips, fresh veggies, turned into steak fajitas, with brown rice and black beans.

lunch

One slice of Aldi cheese pizza, two tangerines, and a salad with romaine lettuce, roma tomatoes, and cucumbers with French dressing!!

march 5th dinner

I finally figured out how to take pictures from my phone to my blog. I passed on the potatoes tonight.

March Menu

March 1st- ordered pizza from Little Ceasers

March 2nd- penne pasta, using frozen from scratch garden veggie spaghetti sauce I had in the freezer, topped with Parmesan cheese, and salad.

March 3rd- I put a pound of kidney beans on top of the stove to soak overnight (last night), and my husband said he was going to make chili in the crock pot. We do have some colby and cheddar cheese in the fridge, and I will make another salad to go with our meal.

March 4th-  chicken thighs, carrots, brown rice, broccoli, salad. The recipe is here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/honey-garlic-slow-cooker-chicken-thighs/detail.aspx?src=VD_Summary

March 5th- pork roast, potatoes, steamed vegetables


As of March 5th, we have zero left overs in the fridge.

March 5th

Our dinner is a simple one. We have a thawed pork roast in the fridge. I put it into the crock pot with a couple of potatoes that I peeled and cut small. I added a couple of teaspoons of chopped garlic I had in a jar, a couple of mushrooms (the end of a fresh package I had in the fridge), some sage, onion powder (I am out of fresh onions), and a can of mushroom soup. The crock pot is on low, and will cook all day. I will steam some frozen veggies I have in the freezer to go with our dinner.

I have a running list of pantry items and household goods that need to be replenished. I got paid this morning, wrote out all the bills (my student loan, electric, water, pest control, equity line (snowball payment), June's mortgage, doctor bills, cable, cell phones, and a payment to my tuition at Walden.

My savings is intact, but I haven't made any deposits in the past two months. The last deposit was made January 21, 2015.

March 4 dinner

My daughter made chicken thighs the other day and we still had four in the fridge that needed to be used. I found this recipe on face book being passed around. I figured we should try it.

I put all the carrots we had in the fridge in the crock pot (they were tiny and small), I have no onions, and only had one take out packet of soy sauce...we will have some brown rice, a small salad, and maybe some other veggie to go with it.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/honey-garlic-slow-cooker-chicken-thighs/detail.aspx?src=VD_Summary

March

I can't believe it's all ready March. I've incurred some expenses for this month. I went back to my doctor to get some treatment for anxiety (at my husband's request)because it is making me physically sick. I saw my doctor last week and  I am to return on Thursday for a follow up and pick up a possible prescription, and will return again in two weeks.

March 1st- ordered pizza from Little Ceasers

March 2nd- penne pasta, using frozen from scratch garden veggie spaghetti sauce I had in the freezer, topped with Parmesan cheese, and salad.

March 3rd- I put a pound of kidney beans on top of the stove to soak overnight (last night), and my husband said he was going to make chili in the crock pot. We do have some colby and cheddar cheese in the fridge, and I will make another salad to go with our meal.

 We have in the pantry, fridge, and freezer:

bulk kidney beans
yellow, red, orange peppers
jarred garlic
fresh onion couple
cans of diced tomato
ground turkey
all kinds of spices

I told him that if he wanted other stuff to put into the chili, he was going to have to buy it. I am holding on to the money in my account to pay for my tuition for class.

Dinner...

My Mary baked chicken thighs, steamed some long grain rice, and war up some corn. It was pretty awesome. I didn't have to wake up, cook a meal, and then go to work.

Dinner...

I warmed up some lurking BBQ pork for the teenagers. We have left over pasta from last night and I turned it into mac and cheese using a basic white sauce and added some Colby cheese.

My husband and I are having left over soup I had in the fridge. We are also having a huge salad for dinner. Nothing fancy tonight.

I go back to work soon. Three in a row.

Haven't been posting...

I got paid last Thursday. I sent out the IRS bill of 1686 in a certified mail. They received it, posted it, and it cleared my account yesterday!! I have an intact savings account, and still have some cash in my checking that I was hoping to use for my class that starts today. I need to make a few more payments. I started at 2245, and am down to owing 1450 and it needs to be paid off by end of April. I am taking one class at a time, paying cash for each one, so I don't incur any extra student loan debt.

Should I be enrolled in a master's degree program and continue to pay down debt? I guess it's debatable, some folks would say to use that money to get my mortgage paid off, and my other student loan. I am working on both bills, financially supporting a family of five, and working a full time job. I am being offered a preceptor position at my work (teaching new nurses) and I'm loving it. There's no financial bonus, but it looks great on a resume.

I paid the electric bill, put gas in my car, and went shopping last week. I spent 200 dollars to fill up a lot of empty areas in our pantry.

Dinner this past week:
scrambled eggs, fried potatoes
pulled pork sandwiches with onion rings
homemade chicken noodle soup (still have some left)
jar sauce and pasta
hot dogs and french fries


It's been lacking in balanced meals the past week or so. I've used up most of the lurking stuff in the freezer (all the containers I had). I had a gift certificate to Applebee's I got for my birthday, we went there one night.

So, for dinner tonight:
I put cut up onion, red, yellow, and orange peppers, two heaping teaspoons of jar garlic, a handful of chopped fresh mushrooms, one large tomato, three cans of diced tomato, and some basil in the crock pot. First, I cooked down the veggies in some olive oil. I added everything together in the crock pot and topped it with a small amount of Parmesan cheese. It will cook all day.

I will boil some penne pasta (0.69 cents a lb) later and make a large salad (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, cucumber) to go with our meal. I also have a few slices of Italian bread that need to be used, so I will make garlic bread for the kids.

Using what we have...

I have four more chicken quarters that need to be used up since they are defrosted. If you have read in the past few days, we are making a conscious effort to make do, use what we have, and use alternatives in place of things we are out of.

I have the last four chicken quarters marinating in the last of the garlic and herb marinade that was lurking in the fridge. I'm going to bake these in the oven with some celery, a few small carrots, and an onion. I will let it cook at 325 until the chicken quarters are done.

I'm going to warm up a package of frozen veggies that are partially used. We have spinach, green beans, and Brussel sprouts open in the freezer. They have to go soon. The kids will have to decide which one they prefer for tonight's dinner.

I have a recipe for dumplings. I'm going to use some of the turkey stock and chicken stock from yesterday. It will use up some of the containers I have in the freezer.

The bones and skin from yesterday's chicken made 2 cups of beautiful chicken stock for the freezer.


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Herbed-Dumplings/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=chicken%20and%20dumplings&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p2i18

chicken quarters...

I have a ten pound bag of chicken quarters defrosting. I took out four (I know there's five of us, but I'm working on stretching the budget and hoping to eliminate some waste) and found a recipe that I've used in the past. I used this recipe last Easter and it was a huge hit for all of us. One exception, I put the meal in the oven last time, this time, I'm using my trusty crock pot.


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Roast-Sticky-Chicken-Rotisserie-Style/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=sticky%20chicken&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i8

I have some celery that is looking long in the tooth, so I put two stalks of it in the crock pot. I also added a pound bag of "baby carrots" I bought for 0.49 cents at Aldi a while ago. I put in a whole thin sliced onion and the four seasoned chicken quarters for the crock pot.

It's on low now. It will cook all day. I'm thinking I may steam some long grain rice to go with this. I have tons of rice in the pantry (long grain white, brown, jasmine).

The best part of this is that the seasonings were adjustable to the amount of chicken you used. I cut the recipe in half and it seems to be more than enough. I'm hoping will make this beautiful stock for the freezer!!

We are finally out of left overs and lurking "soups" in the freezer. I was looking through it this morning and all I have is some frozen veggies, a few sorts of meat, and a lot of turkey stock. I may have to make a batch of turkey soup soon (no turkey meat, just stock...lots of it).

We are blessed well to eat on a limited budget. My total grocery purchases for February at this time are ZERO. I have a grocery list that has some needs on it, but we are working on using alternatives.

I would like to get that tax bill paid off next week when I get paid. As long as I can get the tax bill paid, I will go grocery shopping after I get that bill paid insured, and sent overnight to the IRS.

Dinner

I thawed out two containers I had in the freezer. One was ham and bean soup. The other was chicken soup. The kids had their choice of which one they wanted for dinner.

It's keeping out budget intact and our expenses low.

What's been cooking???

Remember when I said I wasn't going to cook the whole pound of salad macaroni??? I did. We have been eating spaghetti for two days, and I'm hoping we finish it up today. YEAH!!

Saturday: left over spaghetti
Sunday: left over spaghetti

I took out 10 pounds of chicken quarters I bought a while ago for 79 cents a pound. They are defrosting in the fridge. I also found a 3 quart bowl of homemade chicken soup, and bean soup in the freezer from October and November. They are defrosting in the fridge as we speak...

We are in the process of using things up to keep the budget intact. I am working tonight, so I will hopefully plan on warming up both soups tomorrow and offering it up for dinner, with some sliced apples (we have four left on the counter), and maybe some saltines.

I changed my deductions at my employer from five to four. I also have them taking out an extra 20 dollars a pay period for federal and state. I'm hoping to not have a big tax bill next year.

I have about 700 dollars in my checking account. I get paid again on the 20th. All my bills have been sent out and the 700 is clearly unclaimed by a bill. I have about 2 T in my savings. I plan on paying the tax bill with my next pay check. I had 20 dollars cash, and I have to get gas in my car this evening before work. The 20 will hopefully fill most of my gas tank. Gas here is 2.09 right now.

We are working on eating down our freezer, pantry, and fridge. I have some fresh produce left (apples, raisins, carrots, celery, potatoes, onions) ans we have some frozen bags of veggies in the freezer. It's a blessing.

The hound dogs were supposed to get to the vet this month for vaccinations. It's been pushed back until after the tax bill has been paid in full. I figure that the two hound dogs are fairly healthy and their immunity will last for another month.

My car passed inspection and received an oil change. YEAH!!!
The kids and I received new sneakers from my Kohl's gift card I received for my 43 birthday!! YEAH!!! It's a great blessing since I have arthritis in my beloved feet.


I hope everyone has a great day.

Freezer clean out...using what we have...

I have a cup of tomato paste in the freezer, along with a small container of home made spagheeti sauce I made about a week or two ago. It has peppers, onions, garlic, small amount of Italian sausage, diced tomato, and diced tomatoes in it. I have about 4 slices of left over meatloaf from yesterday that needs to be used.

I'm going to put the tomato paste and a small amount of water on the stove, open the container I have of spaghetti sauce and cut up the sliced meat loaf. I will simmer this together. I'm going to cut a whole onion very thin and brown it in some olive oil, along with some jarred garlic (I am out of fresh garlic). I will add this to the "spaghetti sauce". I have a 3 ounce container in the freezer of chopped up tomato that I will add to this. We are out of Parmesan cheese, so we will go without.

We don't have any spaghetti noodles, but I do have some "salad macaroni" that we will serve instead. It is in a 16 ounce bag. I don't plan on cooking the whole bag. We have some left over spinach from last night that needs to be used up.

If the kids are still hungry, they can have some left over banana bread.

Using what we have available will help keep my budget reasonable, and free up some income to pay my tax bill. I got paid yesterday and did my taxes. I am waiting on my next pay check (every two weeks) and I will send out the tax money then. I don't want to touch the income I have in my savings account. I have 20 dollars cash in my wallet. I'm hoping to hold on to it until I really need something, like milk for the children.

Dinner tonight...using what we have

Meat loaf using a pound of 93 percent lean ground beef, and a pound of ground turkey, two slices of bread that I turned into crumbs, two eggs, a packet of soy sauce (take out from my oldest), some Worcestershire sauce, onion, and garlic.

I had a container of homemade spaghetti sauce (peppers, onion, mushrooms, etc etc) in the fridge. It's a small container, so I used it to top the meatloaf and I put it in the oven.

We had sliced cucumbers, chopped spinach, and green beans with our meal.

I made two pans of banana bread, and a pan of banana muffins. My special ed kid said, Oh I love banana cupcakes". He ate two servings after he finished his dinner. My oldest is taking some of left over dinner to work with her. My middle DD (who fell and broke her eye glasses) said "Mom, I love when you cook".

Did I mention I feel like a heel after my kid broke her glasses?? She's been so sweet. She asked me if I would like a cup of tea. I told her that would be great. I hugged her and said, "I'm glad that you didn't get hurt".

My kid...

fell at school, tripped over her shoe laces, and BROKE HER GLASSES.

I have insurance and they helped pay for 60 percent of her new glasses last year, since she had a new prescription.

I just want to cry.

taxes

I worked a lot of overtime last year (2014). A lot of overtime. I filed our taxes this morning using Turbo Tax. I paid 71 dollars for our federal and state returns. I'm getting a state return of 138 dollars direct deposit to my checking account.

I owe federal taxes. 1686 total. As soon as I find out that my return has been accepted to the IRS I have to check the balance in my savings account. I want this paid by the end of the month. I have about 800 dollars after paying all my bills this morning (I got my paycheck from work) and get paid every two weeks.

I will use what cash I have in my checking left over and use my savings. I have about 2 thousand in there. I would consider paying the IRS an emergency.

Upset...yep.

I asked my friend (financial analyst) if I could use my wagging hound dogs tails as a deduction for wind turbine. HAHAHA.

Using what we have...

I worked Tuesday night and made it home Wednesday morning and slept for a couple of hours. I have a community service activity I am committed to on Wednesday nights at the local rescue mission. I went there and I am blessed that I enjoy my time there.

I thawed out thin pork chops for Wednesday's dinner. I used the last bit of breadcrumbs I had to make a coating on them. I warmed up all the left overs in the fridge (buttered corn, pork stuffing, carrots, left over hibachi veggies and rice from my; birthday dinner) and offered a buffet style pick what you want to eat for dinner.

It worked. We got rid of the lurking left overs and finished off some breadcrumbs.

I have some things that need to be used up:

a couple of bananas
a couple of apples
butterscotch morsels (I don't know who bought them, maybe my DH????)
a very thick candy cane
Dollar store chocolate from Christmas


I have a running grocery list and working to use what we have available.

Dinner...birthday fun...working less overtime.

In a nutshell, my overtime shift last week was instead "On call" and I didn't get called in. I am kind of thankful. I get my first paycheck this week with no overtime in it. I'm a little nervous, but it was really nice to be at home. The bills are paid. I have money in savings. I'm waiting to get all my tax stuff in the mail. Some of it has arrived.

We celebrated my birthday yesterday. We went to a Japanese steakhouse and had a BLAST! The five of us had an awesome time. Was it expensive...YEP. Was it fun....YEP. Did we plan and put the money aside to pay for it.....YEP.

The kids and I need new sneakers and hair cuts. My husband shaved his head for the first time on Sunday. I work up in the afternoon (I work night shift) and walked into the bathroom. He was in there with the clippers, a razor, and shaving cream. It was all gone, including his beard and mustache. I asked him if he was in the stages of "having a manic moment". He said he wanted to see what it would look like. I was shocked. I told him that I wish the kids would have given me some kind of hint when I woke up.

He's wearing a baseball hat now. I love him regardless. He's saving me money on shampoo that's for sure.

Dinner today is five chicken legs in the crock pot. I added a bag of "baby carrots", two stalks of celery, an onion, some spices, and five small potatoes. It's dinner tonight.

Dinner this weekend...

I'm finishing up my work weekend tonight...
My DH made chicken wings last night with BBQ sauce, steamed green beans and corn.
Tonight he made a pork roast in the crock pot with "cream of mushroom soup" over it. He made buttered corn and stuffing.

I'm thankful I didn't have to cook.

Using what we have continues....

In an effort to increase the amount of fruit and veggies in our daily meals I've used a bunch of fruit and veggies for today's meal.

We are going to have homemade spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage over whole grain thin spaghetti with salad, green beans, and sliced apples.

The apples are self explanatory. I will slice them and serve on the side. We will have some green beans from the freezer and microwave them prior to eating. The whole grain thin spaghetti is a opened box that has been lurking in the pantry. There's about half a box left. It needs to go today.

Our homemade spaghetti sauce consist of 1 cup of tomato paste, 1/2 cup of water, the last of the red, yellow, orange, green peppers I cut into strips. I had one of each color left to use. I sliced up one whole onion, two cloves of garlic, a handful of fresh mushrooms (I cut them small. I don't care for huge pieces of mushrooms in my meal), two cans of diced tomato (juices included), and I put in some Italian sausage I cooked in olive oil. The Italian sausage links were taken out of their casing. I browned them on top of the stove with some olive oil. I added some basil to it and put it all in the crock pot.

We are out of fresh Parmesan cheese from Aldi. I do have some of the "shaker" Parmesan cheese if the kids would like that on their pasta. Our salad is the last of the lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, peppers from yesterday's meal. We have two dressings for it, a sweet southwestern kind, and thousand island from Aldi.

I go back to work tonight.

Dinner...

We had more salad left over from last night (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, peppers), home made pizzas (two were cheese, one pepperoni, one supreme IE mushroom, peppers, onion, garlic, pepperoni), and sliced pears.

We are using up what we have to keep some money saved. I used the last bit of Spaghetti sauce and mixed it with some tomato paste and a bit of water. I put the last bit of mozzarella cheese in the blender and grated it. I used pepperoni I had in the freezer, and cut up a bunch of lurking veggies. I used the last of the Parmesan cheese that we bought shredded from Aldi.

Four our pizza crust, I used a awesome bread recipe. The crust was amazing. We have the equivelant of one pizza left over. My DD will probably take that to work tonight for her lunch.



http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rons-Bread-Machine-White/Detail.aspx?evt19=1

What's been cooking...

I had two very small pieces of pork roast I bought a whole ago at Aldi for 1.99 lb. I took both out of the freezer yesterday morning and let thaw. To my disappointment, they were both very fatty. I ended up trimming off all the fat. I sliced both pieces into thin "strips" and covered them with mustard and spices. I used about 1 cup of seasoned breadcrumbs and breaded them. They went into the oven at 325 for about 40 minutes.

I microwaved a open bag of lurking broccoli that was in the freezer that needed to be used up.
I had some salad that my DD made the night before. We finished that (lettuce, onion, tomato, cucumber, peppers).


Today's meal will be some chicken tortellini I bought from Aldi. It's the refrigerated kind. I don't know why I bought it, I guess I was looking for something different. I am going to simmer these and serve them with the last of the Prego sauce for the children, topped with some shredded Parmesan cheese.

I am going to serve the chicken tortellini for myself and DH. I'm going to coat a pan with some olive oil, simmer a couple strips of red, yellow, orange, and green peppers, half a sliced onion, a couple cloves of garlic, and a whole tomato diced up. I will let this cook down some, and serve this over the pasta, with some Parmesan cheese.

All five of us will have left over salad on the side. I have a frozen bag of green beans that we can microwave to have on the side. We are working hard to increase our veggie intake and use what is available at home.

Dinner and work

Friday night I went to work in a middle of a winter storm. I ended up getting a hotel room paid for by my employer to ensure that I was able to return to work on Saturday night. I was able to get home Sunday morning and return to work Sunday night.

My DH made chili last night for dinner. We had all kinds of chili stuff in the pantry. He didn't look and see what was available and went out to buy the ingredients. Oh well. It's his money, not mine.

I had a package of Aldi frozen ravioli in the freezer. I simmered them, topped them with some Prego spaghetti sauce and shredded Parmesan cheese. That's dinner tonight!!

Dinner tonight

We are working on using things up and incorporating the lurking items into our new groceries I bought the other day.

Aldi had chicken drumsticks on sale for 89 cents a pound. There's 12 in each package and I bought two large ones. I broke them down into five per serving and put them in the freezer.

I have five drumsticks marinating in some garlic and herb marinade I had in the fridge (lurking, didn't use all of it up yet). I also have a package of pepperidge farm stuffing mix in the pantry (lurking). I cut up half the onion that was left over form yesterday, several stalks of celery, two cloves of garlic, one large green apple, some sage, thyme, one container of turkey stock from the freezer, and the last cup of chicken stock that I had in the fridge. It will be stuffing to go with our chicken drumsticks. It will bake in the oven and be part of our meal.

I am also serving a salad. I bought all the produce this past Wednesday when I went to the store. We have some lurking salad dressing that needs to be used up.

What's been cooking...

My computer blogging time was cut since my daughter did something to our computer. She shut down my blog with some code and password that locked me out. I wasn't able to post or even log into my blog. Funny though, I could got to my blog off my android, but not post, and get links to my other blogs. I don't understand.

Anyway, she fixed it. 

We had Shepard pie last night. I used a pound of ground beef, half an onion, two gloves of garlic, a can of lurking cream corn (in the pantry from thanksgiving), a 1/2 bag of frozen corn, and a couple of potatoes (to make mashed). It was pretty awesome. There's enough for one serving left. I'm thinking I will take it to work tonight (unless my husband eats it). 

Wednesday, my kids were out for a snow day. I made use of a couple of things lurking in the pantry. I baked an angel food cake (box mix, only needed water), made a from scratch cheese pizza (ABM ingredients, lurking pasta sauce 1/4 left in a jar, and some mozzarella cheese), and finished off the last seven eggs by making a hash of sorts (scrambled eggs, the last bit of ham pieces I had in the freezer, maybe 1/2 cup...and some small cheese pieces). 

I got paid yesterday. I was able to get most of March's bills paid (I like staying a month ahead), and even paid May's mortgage. I was able to put 300 dollars in my savings. 

My first class ended towards my Master's program. My second starts February 26th. I have payment arrangements to make for this five credit class. It's 445 dollars a credit, plus a 150 technology fee. 

I cut the overtime down some. I only picked up three shifts on the next schedule instead of my usual 8 (making it one extra shift a week). My next pay check in two weeks will not have any overtime in it. I am hoping that it is not a big financial hit to my bank account. 

The kids are well. My teens are still in school. My oldest DD is working full time at a local factory. 

My husband is well. We went out yesterday to a local experimental farm and walked two miles with our two hound dogs. It was pretty awesome to get out together, even if it was a bit cold. 

Life...

my 17 year old apparently put some kind of block on my blog...changed something....locked me out for a few days...

She got me back to my blog tonight.

What's been happening...

Work. Lots of it. I'm hoping to cut back on the overtime. I'm tired and working on recovering from a cold virus. It's not pretty at all. Body aches, exhaustion (I've been in bed before 8 most nights), runny nose, non productive cough, and a mild headache...nothing ibuprofen, sleep, and tea can't fix.

Last night we had home made meat loaf, oven roasted carrots, peas, onion, Brussel sprouts, and celery. It was an easy meal and I tossed all the veggies in some Italian herb marinade.

We've also had BBQ pork chops, with a mixture of veggies.
KFC one night (my DH bought it).
Spaghetti and sauce

I put the last of our sliced turkey in the crock pot with a bunch of carrots, onion, garlic, pepper, potatoes, celery, and a couple containers of turkey stock from the freezer. I added some spices, and I will let it cook all day. YUM!

dinner tonight

Home made cheese burgers (topped with lettuce, tomato, sliced onion, pickles) and potato wedges with Parmesan, garlic, and rosemary.

All made at home from stuff we had in the fridge, pantry, and spice cabinet.

Monday and Tuesday's meals

On Monday, I took a good portion of left over turkey and stuffing and piled them on plates. I made from scratch gravy and covered the plates with it. The kids were loving it. It was so carb heavy that I couldn't finish it.

Tuesday, we made turkey salad with the rest of the turkey. I cut up celery, diced turkey, added some mayo, chopped pickles, onion and garlic powder, poultry seasoning, and thyme. We had this on left over hamburger buns that needed to be used. We served fresh pineapple on the side.

The turkey is officially GONE with only stock in the freezer.

Using things up...

The kids are home from school due to a winter snow and ice storm. We have been pretty good about using some items up.

We've had scrambled eggs with the last bit of cheese that was hiding out in the back of the fridge for breakfast. We took a huge container of bean soup dated 11/25/14 and heated this up for lunch. It fed four of us (my oldest is sleeping since she worked last night).

Tonight we are having chicken "Italian" sausage (we have three links left over from our turkey dinner the other night, will peel off skin and slice very thin) with fried thin sliced onion. We are going to use up the last bit of brown rice with Haitian beans (steamed), and make salad (lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes). My DH and I will put our chicken "italian" sausage over our salad and leave the brown rice and beans for the kids.

I also have three apples and a pear that are going soft. I'm going to cut them up in small pieces, put some butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon on them, and cover it with some older packets of whole grain oats I had in the pantry. We will bake this in the oven and call it "dessert".

Sunday dinner

We had left over turkey and sides from yesterday for dinner.

We have a huge bowl of turkey stock in the fridge from the bones.

I am not going to eat turkey for some time now.

Our soup will be meatless...when I make it.

Dinner

Last night we had hot dogs, steamed broccoli, and some mac and cheese. The mac and cheese was made from left over sea shell pasta that was in the fridge and a basic white sauce with deli cheese ends added to it.

My daughter (Mary, 17) wants to bake our other turkey today. I have cut up some celery (including leaves), carrots, and onion for the crock pot (to make turkey stock later from the bones and skin). It's put aside, since she wants to do the prep for our actual meal alone. The turkey is 13 pounds and I'm hoping for lots of left over turkey for sandwiches.

I have left over boxed stuffing (about a cup) that needs to be used. She will make her own dressing using two cups of chicken stock I took out of the freezer, two chopped apples, half an onion, some celery, two chicken sausage (Italian flavor) links, and home bagged stuffing crumbs. We will combine the two different kinds of stuffing and bake them in the oven.

I have a lone turkey bag in the pantry she can use. I think she wants to heat up buttered corn in the freezer, a steam type bag). I asked her to make a salad to go with our meal. We even have a lone container of cranberry sauce (my kids love it, me not so much).

My husband told me that he would take all the meat off the bones, and put the frame, skin, and extra stuff in the crock pot after dinner. I prepped the veggies for the crock pot. All he needs to do is add everything (including water) and let it simmer overnight. I will strain the bones and skin out in the AM when I get home from work. The turkey stock will be added to the freezer for future meals.

Debt totals...

January 2014   109,488.31

mortgage 71,932.53
Equity line 23,446,73
student loan 14,109.05

January 2015   97,392.56

mortgage 69, 801.60
equity line 17, 626.10
student loan 9,964.86

I am following Dave Ramsey's snowball concept...my goal is to have my equity line paid off by August 2016...the terms of the loan change then. I send them the minimum payment of 75 dollars, and an additional 300 dollars every two weeks.

My student loan payment is 167 dollars a month. I send them 200 dollars every two weeks...like clock work.

It doesn't seem like much, but when I added the new totals, it was BELOW 100,000.00

Amazing. One income.

January 2015

Happy New Year!! I can't believe it's 2015. Wow! Time flies when folks are working, providing for their families, and finding a moment for quality time.

I am working New Year's Eve, and New Year Day night shift.

Dinner last might was left over chicken, corn, peas, potatoes with gravy. I made some boxed stuffing also for the carb loving kids. My daughter made sea shell pasta with Prego spaghetti sauce for this evening's meal since I have to work.

 I don't make resolutions. I end up breaking them within the first few weeks, and after doing so, I just stopped making them. I am looking forward to working less overtime (one can hope right???) and paying down my debt some more. I will have new numbers for my debt later this week. I have 2014 numbers written down and will do the math for 2015 prior to posting.

I hope 2015 brings the best for everyone!