Skip to main content

How is it already the middle of the month!?

Anyone else feeling like the month of September is flying by?? It's going to be October before we know it and that means Thanksgiving and Halloween already. Boy oh boy!

I'm also really excited that it's the middle of the month because it's pay day. Hooray! I don't think there's a single person who doesn't like pay day. I mean, don't get me wrong, pay day doesn't mean we will now have money to throw around and spend frivolously (the thought of that actually makes me laugh since it's SO far from our present situation) but it does mean that our bank account moves slightly out of the red...until the next wave of bills get paid. Hah! But it's at least a momentary reprieve. I'm learning to find joy in the little things - no matter how short and fleeting - in order to stay sane and keep hope :)


I have my weekly grocery update for you guys now. Here's what I bought for the week of September 15th - 21st:

I went a little more crazy in the produce department as Abby and I have been on a fruit kick lately and the peaches were on for $0.98/lb so I couldn't resist. Also, you'll notice the bag of popcorn that I mentioned I would be buying. We most definitely dug in and had a huge bowl for an afternoon snack on Saturday and it was delicious; nothing beats hot air popped corn drizzled with butter. Yum!

So, overall, for this week I spent $35.02 on groceries. That brings my monthly total up to $89.62.

I've come to terms with the fact that my lofty goal of $100 for the month is not going to happen, but I'll most definitely stay under $150 which makes me really happy! I have one week plus two days of groceries left to buy for the month.

Do you know what's so awesome about meal planning? I can juggle meals based on things that come up last minute. We just found out Chad has a few nights this week where he won't be home for supper - he has work commitments - so I should be able to stretch a few items into next week.  I know what ingredients I have in the house and can switch meals to different nights or eliminate a meal altogether if needed (as long as it means I'm not wasting perishable grocery items!). For example, I can cook my planned meal one night when he's not here and then Abby and I can have the leftovers another night he's not here. That means one meal just became two and I now have extra ingredients for the week. I can look at my meal plan and see I was planning pork chops with rice and roasted beets for one night this week. Beets can be kept in the fridge for quite a while and the meat is in the freezer so I can easily push that meal into next week and eliminate something altogether from the list = less groceries to buy. See how that works? The beauty of organization! :)


This weekend was busy and full of family as we celebrated Abby's second cousin's 2nd birthday (that's a mouthful!). We got to see a whole bunch of family on Chad's side - including Abby's great-grandma and great-grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. - which was really neat. We enjoyed birthday cake and visiting in the back yard while the kids played. Then in the evening we headed down to White Rock beach for a delicious supper of fish and chips. Just one more reason why I love where we live!  


    Abby (pink) and Olivia (blue) throwing rocks with their Grandpas 
at White Rock beach on Saturday evening

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to the world little Julia! The beginning of our new journey....

Hey everyone. Sorry it's been so long since my last post...life around here has been extra busy! On December 13th, 2014 we welcomed our second daughter, Julia Anne Wookey, to the family. She was born weighing 9lbs 1oz and measuring 23 inches long. I knew she would be a big girl - we don't make small babies. Labor and delivery went well. I started having contractions around 9am on the 12th and they steadily got stronger. Chad and I headed to the hospital around dinner time. The nurses monitored me and baby's heart rate for quite some time; Julia's pattern for her heart rate was a bit abnormal during my contractions so they wanted to keep an eye on it. We had the exact same scenario happen during my labor with Abby and in the end they decided to admit me and then the fun began. I labored all through the evening and eventually succumbed to the pain. I asked for an epidural and they also gave me some laughing gas while the anesthesiologist made his way to my room.

Always Struggling to Make Ends Meet

I don't know about you, but as a one income family we have a really tight, no-room-for-error budget. It seems like money is always on my mind and it's always regarding the fact that we never have quite enough. There are days where I feel like we're treading water pretty well, but the majority of the time it feels like we have this rock of debt attached to us and it's dragging us under. There always seems to be more month than money and I have yet to succeed in finding the key to getting out of this hole. It all goes back to the days before my hubby and I got married. He LOVES cars and his hobby was always buying, modifying, and selling them so he could buy something new. I love that he has a passion for cars but they aren't exactly money makers.....so when we said our vows "for richer or poorer" we most definitely had to mean it. This is not to say that I didn't bring any outstanding debt to our marriage. I was fresh out of university and had just bo

How to Meal Plan

Happy October! So. I took on the task of meal planning again yesterday and decided to try doing it for the entire month of October; just like I did all of September last time. I am accustomed to doing two week planning but decided to buckle down and do the entire month again. It was a lot harder this time around! I think it was due to the fact that I just don't have the same volume of stuff in the freezer to use so I had to come up with meals that both used up things in the house AND required new items to be bought. Last month was strictly using up what I had in the house already (except dairy and veggies) so I knew exactly what I had to work with. This time was much more open-ended; I'm coming to learn that I do better when I have less options to choose from. I actually find it quite daunting to have limitless possibilities. I figured I would walk you guys through my meal planning process. I had a friend of mine do the same a while ago (check her out  here ) and i