Birthdays on a budget! UGH!!!

Yeah, it's birthday time in our house! Our oldest daughter is turning 13!!! we will officially have a teenager in the house- even though she's been acting like one for months already! LOL I am not sure how I feel about this yet. LOL I was putting up pictures around the house yesterday of the family and how we have grown, etc, and WOW! is all I can say! Pictures make a house a home, for sure, but also it sure shows the progression and how we have been lax at taking pictures the last few years :( I sure will start to remedy that now! :)

Anyway! So, my daughter wants a "big bash" for her big turning a teenager thing. Well, she wanted to invite 50 people! ROFL! At a certain age you no longer have to have "fun stuff" for the kids to do physically, and you can return to doing parties at your house. Our house is not big enough for 50 kids! LOL She has invited "28" she said....will see how many actually come! So, that is ONE way we are saving money.....No money out for the "venue". She actually loves having things here, so she is excited! But we all know where the big money comes in....the food! Well I have posted our menu, but I will post it again here, and tell you how we are going to save money.......

From our Angel Food Ministries boxes we will be able to use (so it will cost us nothing this week):

3-5 pkgs meatballs with mustard and jelly sauce (I usually do hotdogs, but since the meatballs are in the boxes, might as well use them!)
2 lbs ground beef
2-6 pkgs 12 oz 'deli meat"- this will be used for the sub sandwich....sandwich was planned before I realized what was in the boxes!

From Aldi-

2 pkgs "velveeta" cheese ($4 each)
2 cans rotel (.30 each?)
2 pkgs (large) different deli meat (if we get ham with afm boxes, will get turkey and chicken)
4 pkgs sliced good cheese ($2.49 each I think I saw yesterday)
1 jar mayo
1 jar miracle whip
3 bags tortilla chips ($1 each)
1 bag pretzels($1)
1 bag chips ($1.49?)
8- 12 can pkgs of soda ($3.00 each?)
2 big buckets icecream ($4 each)
1 bag strawberries (frozen, $2?)
1 bag mixed berries or raspberries (frozen $2?)
1 pkg cool whip ($1?)

Here we are right at $60 or so. Some prices are inflated since I don't know how much for sure they will cost me. I may be able to get a deal on the soda... will look around this week. So, for 30+ kids, that's about $2/kid. Not bad. I don't have on here the french bread- that will be about another $5 to put about 4 loaves together to make a 6' long sub sandwich! woohoo! LOL

Entertainment is a movie my daughter has requested (Twilight), and music, so that's simple overall. Mostly it will be a lot of labor of love (aka cleaning the house and decorating! LOL)

Menu Week of March 15- 21, 2009

wow! I was SICK! let me tell you! If you THINK you are sick, and MIGHT need some meds- GO TO THE DR!!!!! If not, you will get worse and worse until you have to be put on the strongest antibiotics, and a bunch of other crap and it takes you 3 weeks to get over what should have taken 1! Ok, enough of that lecture for today! I am just glad I am feeling better in time to get ready for my oldest daughter's birthday party on Saturday! she will be 13 on sunday! OMG! time flies!!!!!

So, to keep me on track, here's my menu for the week:

Sunday March 15, 2009
Crock pot chicken divan http://www.crock-pot.com/Recipe.aspx?rid=283
Over buttered noodles
With veggies/dip on the side


Monday March 16, 2009

Garlic Pork chops in Crock pot http://www.crock-pot.com/Recipe.aspx?rid=629
Potatoes
Cooked veggies

Tuesday march 17,2009

Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

Family Friendly Shepherd’s Pie http://www.recipezaar.com/Family-Friendly-Shepherds-Pie-262339
Salad
Rosemary bread from store

Wednesday March 18, 2009

Chicken noodle soup
Bread/rolls
Veggies/dip

Thursday March 19, 2009

Breakfast for dinner- Pancakes
Bacon
Eggs

Friday March 20, 2009

Salisbury steak and gravy
Over toast or rice or noodles
Cooked veggies

Saturday March 21, 2009

Birthday Party! 13 yrs old!
AFM Pick up

6’ sub sandwich with fixins: cheese, onions, tomatoes, pickles, mustard, mayo, honey mustard-meat- ham/turkey/chicken (some from AFM Pickup)
Meatballs in mustard/jelly sauce (Meatballs from AFM pickup- 3-5 lbs)
Nacho meat dip (meat from AFM- 2lbs) w/velveeta, taco seasoning, rotel, chips
3 types of chips
some sodas/frozen virgin drink mixes
icecream sundae bar- 2 types of icecream, make: fudge sauce, caramel sauce, raspberry sauce and strawberry sauce, add, mini choc chips, whip cream, cherries


Sunday March 22nd- Go out to dinner at restaurant of daughter's choice, or make her a dinner of her choice!

Quick easy dinner for tonight

Since I haven't posted a menu for the week (still sick here!) I figured out dinner and will post the recipe here:

1 lb ground beef (could use ground turkey, prefer ground turkey- cheaper, healthier)
1 16 oz bag frozen broccoli
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz pkg ff cream cheese
1 pkg crescent rolls or canned biscuits (or homemade)

Empty bag of broccoli into microwave safe bowl, cook for 5 min. while cooking brown ground meat. Stir broccoli, cook 5 more minutes. Finish browning meat and drain. Add to the meat the soup and cream cheese, allow cheese to melt and all things mix together.

Empty broccoli into the bottom of a 9X13. If it doesn't look like enough for your family, do another bag! There is no right or wrong when it comes to broccoli! top with meat mixture. Roll crescent rolls, or place biscuits on top of mixture, sides touching, bake until bread is browned and cooked through according to package directions. YUMMMMMMM

***I can never make things the same way twice I swear! LOL I use what is on hand sometimes! Thought I had more broccoli than I did, so I used 2 bags of the "stir fry mix" I got from Angel Food Ministries this month- cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, onions and red peppers. so I cooked those in the microwave until done, then picked out the red peppers....we like the flavor, not biting into them! LOL Once I put it in the 9X13 it was too much, my bigger casserole it was too little, so I added the spot of broccoli I had (about 2 cups cooked). I also used 2 lbs ground meat (1 lbs beef, 1 lbs turkey), and an extra can of soup. I used 3 of the small cans of crescent rolls (4 to a pkg). This will be enough for tonight and lunches for me and dh (and possibly kids too!). Yay!

Shopping for Clothes on a budget!

Ok, here comes the groans! The seasons are changing, the kids are growing, we are wanting "something new" in our closet too. What are we to do? Go out and spend way too much on a SINGLE outfit? NOOOOOOO

I was watching Dr. Phil a couple days ago and they were showing how to save money... had the "most frugal family in america" on...whatever... LOL ANYWAY... All they talked about was shopping at thrift stores for clothes. Yes, I will admit 90% of our clothes probably do come from thrift stores, and we have great ones around here I take full advantage of, but sometimes you just want that feel of "new" on you!

So, what do you do? Well, what we do is we buy basics at thrift stores. Basics meaning Pants, tshirts, coats (if possible, usually can), and pop up needs, we also buy shoes there. During the summer months, kids are out of school, if they are going to daycare, and even if they are not, really they don't need the latest and greatest because they are going to be sweating, playing hard and getting their clothes dirty all day. That's where thrift stores come in handy. Look at the tags, before you look at the style of the shirt, pant, etc! I shop by brand at my thrift stores! I know how much things are, so that isn't an issue, I look for the brands that kids are wearing now, Abercrombie, Aeropostale, American Eagle, Gap, Limited, Limited Too, Old Navy, etc. Just ask your kids what brands... believe me, they know! One reason I go for brand is because of the name recognition, but the other is truly quality! They just hold up better! So, for summer, thrift is good for 100% of their clothes!

School time poses other issues. Wanting to "fit in" "look right" etc. It is soooo hard for kids these days. What I did this year that really seemed to work well, is I got Jeans at thrift stores (and bought more as needed from there), and shirts at stores at the mall! OK, Ok, here we go spending tons of money, right? NOPE! Some of my favorite stores for girls (since that is all I have) are Limited, Too, Children's Place, and Old Navy. These 3 stores are amazing! A lot of times you can go in there, and head straight back to the back. In the clearance sections you will find prices lowered (sometimes- eh, sometimes wow!), but the good deal is when they are slashed really good, AND there is an additional 30%, 40% or more OFF the clearance price! When we put our girls in public school, I racked up over $400 of clothes at Limited too, for about $150! doing that . That was just after labor day, fyi! Then some places will give you cards for "buy $50, save $25" good for other dates, so go back and get $50 worth of clearance items for $25! See! You can get new clothes for your kids! I'm sure there are savings like these at shoe stores, I just haven't wandered to those yet. LOL I will be looking into those this year.

Ok, so the kids are taken care of, what about the ADULTS! We have to be dressed nice for work, right? What if we want a date night? Even Stay at home Moms/Dads deserve nice clothes too! Ok, so, I already told you about thrift stores, get your basics there, pants, tshirts, some shoes. You can even find nice dress shoes there! BUT if you want to "dress for success" you want stylish, new clothes. I don't blame you. Who doesn't. So, again, go to stores and head straight for the clearance sections. Awesome places for deals. My favorite stores for clothing deals: Kohls (men/women/kids), Ross (Men/women), Target (women, men, kids), Lane bryant (women), Sears (Men, women, kids, shoes), Old Navy (men, women, kids)

Don't forget to check online at your favorite stores to see if they have a special clearance section of stuff that they don't have at stores, sometimes you can get some pretty cheap stuff!

what a LOOOOONG week! LOL

I have soooo missed you all! I have been WORKING! :) I had subbing jobs at school all week! And of course since it WAS my first week ever, AND it was the end of Feb in TN, that means that all the kids in the class (3-5 yr olds!) had "jelly doughnut" noses, which in turn, got me a raging cold, lost my voice, cough, etc! Yeah, been pretty sick this weekend, finally feeling good enough to sit here and type something to you all! ;)

This was a very eye opening week. I learned SO MANY things, as these were "special" kids! They taught me so much, their teachers did, and I soaked in soooo much! One thing I must say...You want to make extra money- sign up to sub in your school county. at this one school there had to be at least a dozen subs a day! JUST THIS ONE SCHOOL! For the week I made almost $200!!!! I am stoked! It all adds up. And every day I was home w/in a few min of my kids getting home, so they knew how to get in and didn't miss me at all!

I learned about organization from this classroom! wow were they regimented! these kids knew "check schedule" and they went right to their spot to see where/what to do next, get their little piece of the "puzzle" to do next and go where, then "plug in" and velcro it where it went when they got there! at 3 yrs old! if they can get it, we can to! lol

I learned I am probably OCD! LOL One lady lives with an OCD dh, and when I told her "I'm notOCD, just perfectionist....this is what I do" and she could finish it..... she said "oh hunny, you are soooooo OCD"! LOL Good thing I am already on meds that help it (I heard from someone else! LOL)

We got our IEP for dd10, so she is FINALLY getting the help she needs at school! They are probably going to test her for her "attention" LOL but I am so excited for her now! She is going to feel so much more confident in school! We have discovered (on our own) about Cover Overlays for her reading because the words "jiggle" so she confirmed to me this weekend, so will talk to the school on monday about it. or at least just send letter to the resource teacher. told them about her stomach aches/headaches, and they finally paid attention to it, and not sure what they will do about it, but glad the chamomile tea is working for her in that respect. Gotta love chamomile tea!

Honey has been home all week on vacation, and of course I had to work! That's ok! With me getting progressively sicker, he had more and more responsibility pushed on him, and he really stepped up to the plate on a lot of fronts! I was so proud of how well he worked with dd10 and I felt sooooo loved this weekend when I would be sitting on the couch and he would just bring me food without me even asking for it! Those are the things that make me feel loved! Poor thing is an IT geek at work, so he had to take care of my computer last night, then go into work this am at 7 because there was a virus on ALLLLLL the computers at the 2 plants there! dunno when he will be home, but I hope I can get some laundry/dishes done before he gets here, and also get the menu made.

I did a bit of "grocery gaming" this weekend.... it is now a verb in our house, not a website! LOL we were soooo out of many essentials and I was tired of it, so I grabbed a ton of different coupons and stocked up on shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, body wash, bar soap, laundry soap and softner. Yes, it was a chunk of money. Thank goodness Uncle Sam came through on friday so I could do this, but overall, I saved $100 and spent $200. That's not bad! Considering we won't be buying that stuff for at least a few months! And now I can just buy a couple things at a time, and it will be cheaper in the long run!

Ok, so, time to go figure out menu for next week, will inventory the freezers/pantry and see what we shall see. Be back in a bit!