My Week So Far - Menus and Organizing

 

Hello friends! Happy Wednesday! 

I've been busy around the house the past few days, which is what I love to do. As you can see, I made a batch of brownies from scratch and they were probably the best I've ever tasted. Sometimes brownies turn out kind of dry, but not these! They are very moist and chocolaty and I've already eaten way too many.

I sat down Sunday afternoon and made a menu for the week. I'm really trying to take control of our grocery spending. I took a list to the store on Monday and thought I was doing ok, but was shocked when I got to the check out and I was $61.00 over...yikes!

I had added several things that weren't on the list, which I normally do, but I wasn't actually keeping track of the prices adding up, so that's something I'll have to start doing again, if I want to cut back on spending. 

Usually when I'm trying to stick to a certain amount I will jot down the price next to the item on my list, so I'll have a ballpark figure when I check out.  Oh well, do better next time! I will say in my defense, that prices are still so high! I even chose some store brand items in place of my regular items, but the total was still over budget. 

My menu for the week looks like this...

Baked potatoes

in crockpot

w/salad

Swiss Steak

in crockpot

w/green beans

Chicken Rice-a-roni

w/black eyed peas

Beef mini tacos

Tator tot casserole

Bean & Cheese chalupas

Dressing with sausage

in crockpot

As you can see, lots of easy stuff and lots in the crockpot!  It's way too hot to use the oven. I will have to use it for the Tator Tot Casserole, which I will make on Millie Day for the girls, but otherwise, everything is in the crockpot or on the stove.

I don't assign meals to certain days, but rather buy all the ingredients and then make things as they sound good, with the exception of special days that call for a certain meal. 

For the past two days I've had the bean and cheese chalupas for lunch and they were delicious!

I used a can of black refried beans and added some ground beef I already had in the freezer (cooked). I heated those together in a skillet. I put the beef and bean mixture on my tostada shells and added grated cheese, guacamole and some hot sauce and they were delicious!

I also bought several salad kits this week. I am determined to add some veggies to my diet. Here's hoping I follow through with that!

This week I finally finished my magazine clean-out project. I tore all the magazine pages out that I wanted to keep and have them in a big pile on my craft table. Those will wait for a creative day when I feel like making a few more journals out of them.

I had to clean the kid's play closet yesterday. It was a mess! When I do this, I will take every single toy out (most are in baskets) and put them all on the living room floor, turn on a good show, and sit and sort through all the toys. This makes the task much more fun. I then will throw away anything that seems to be a misfit or too small (now that we have babies again who are walking and crawling) and then I put it back, nice and neat, into the play area and hope for the best 😅 The girls have gotten really good at picking up, but with so many kids, it gets messy over time, of course. 

Today I have a few organizing projects on the list - one is the kitchen pantry bottom area. The shelves are organized, but under the bottom shelf needs some work. That's where I keep paper towels, extra mason jars, the dog food and other random things. I have two rolling carts that might fit there if I remove the bottom shelf. I won't know until I get started.

Here's the thing...I'm not afraid to try things and move things and move them back, if need be. This is fun to me! I enjoy using what I already have, but maybe using it smarter than the last thing I used it for. As long as I'm not spending money, there's no harm in moving what I already have around from room to room. 

My other project today is working on my sewing basket. I realized last week, while sewing with the girls, that my sewing box was a disaster waiting to happen. I had my supplies in an old caboodle, which was getting very wonky and finally the clasp broke, which means it could all come crashing down if anyone picked it up by the handle. 

Here are the embarrassing pictures...

So I treated myself to this nice and new sewing box.

I wanted something that actually looked like an old-fashioned sewing box, that would last and be handed down. It wasn't expensive - I got it at Hobby Lobby - but it's just what I had in mind. So I'm excited to get all of my sewing supplies organized in this today.

With the girls asking to sew lately, I need to have my act together as much as possible, to stay one step ahead of them. 

And with that, I'll close out this post with saying have a wonderful Wednesday! I keep telling myself that every day we are one day closer to Fall. Can't wait!

Until next time...

Blessings!