Friday, October 23, 2009

Budgeting Our Financial Future


I was over at Pocket Your Dollars reading about her financial situation and I can relate totally with her.

We got our selves way over our head in debt. We now are living with no credit cards and have very little debt. We are working on a budget and if there is no money we are done spending.

Our biggest problem is, with the cost of health insurance which we have to pay our selves and life insurance there is more outgo than income.

There is somethings we have to do without. We can not give gifts like we would like to do to our children and grandchildren. There is no traveling for now and I do not go shopping, except for grocery deals and to thrift stores to look for items to sell on the Internet.

Our one entertainment is going out to eat mainly at lunch time and this has to stay within our food / entertainment budget of $125 a week.

We listen to David Ramsey on the radio and have his books. Our debt is lower than it was but we borrowed to buy a used car recently rather than buying a $1,000 beater we should have saved for.

Our goals for now is to save $1,000 emergency fund and then pay off the car as fast as we can.

This weeks update. .. We did poor. Went over our food / entertainment budget by $20.00. Does not sound to bad until I see that more than 3/4 of the budget went to eating out.
Savings for emergency fund is $110.55
Balance needed $889.45

We are trying to work extra hours at our part time job with my nephew, to build our Internet book business and as we have done the last two years we will work part time for H R Block.

I will try to give updates on Fridays on our progress and I hope that you will join me.

This week I have to admit we went out to eat way to often. Easy to do when you are out hunting thrift stores and estate sales during the day time.


I would love to hear from you and how you are doing with living within a budget.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Whats For Dinner Monday Night .. Beef Stroganoff


Last night my dh made his tasty Beef Stroganoff. Shortly after starting to date he came to my home and made this for me and won my heart. Twenty years later he still makes it for me and has my heart.




He cuts up a piece of beef , bought just under one pound,




sautes the beef, spices the beef with garlic and onion. Once beef is browned he adds 2 cans of beef gravy, 2 cans of mushroom soup

and lets that simmer while cooking the No Yolk Egg noodles.





At the end just before we are ready to eat he adds a small container of sour cream and lets that simmer for a bit.
Add hot french bread and what a dinner you have at home.
Best of all there is plenty left for us to have another dinner this week.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

My Recipe Collection


My recipe collection is like my coupon collection in a three ring binder. It has recipes in my hand writing, my friends or mother's handwriting and recipes clipped. All are put into mylar pages.

Recipes that I have not tried are in a folder and stuck into binder.
When we find one we like it goes into a mylar page and added to the others.
Some of these recipes go back 30 years and are reminders of those I use to work with.

Fun memories as I look thru my recipes. I also love to buy and sell cookbooks on eBay. As I wait
to sell them they are also fun to search through for recipes to try. How do you keep your
collection of recipes. Are you daring to try new things or cook same recipes over and over like I
tend to do.

Thanks for stopping by.. Lets Keep Saving.. Grace

Menu Plan Sunday


Menu planning is one way to save money using what is in my cupboard and what sounds good us.

Hubby and I love pasta and left overs are a part of our life.

This week 's plan for dinner is

Monday
Hubby's Special Beef Stroganoff and French Bread with garlic

Tuesday
Rotisserie Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, vegetables

Wednesday
Home made Chicken Vegetable Soup, Pillsbury Grand Biscuits

Thursday
Left over Beef Stroganoff and left over Pillsbury biscuits

Friday
Our Home made Spaghetti Sauce over noodles and French Bread with Garlic

Saturday
Meat Loaf, Baked Potatoes and Vegetables

Sunday
Dinner out with family after Church


Lunches will be soup or sandwiches

Breakfasts are cereal or eggs and toast, or bagels with cream cheese


Grocery list for week is
Rotisserie Chicken
Beef for stroganoff
2 # Hamburger
Lunch Meat and Cheese
1 bag Frozen mixed Vegetables
Baking Potatoes
French Bread
Sour Cream
Peanut Butter
garlic
thyme

plus any good deals I see out there.

Will post recipes as we cook this week