Money well spent!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
this post's for you, auntie A!!
Happy Earth Day everyone. The buzz today in everything is being eco-friendly and environmentally aware. While it is fun to see and hear this everywhere today, for S and I, we try to practice this everyday. To us, taking care of the environment is just plain being good stewards of the creation that God has given us to take care of. Growing up on a farm has instilled a literal love of the earth deep in me and while I would make an awful farmer (have the biggest respect for my dad and brother who are wonderful farmers), I will do what I can to take care of the earth. So we try to make environmentally friendly choices when we can and when money allows. Being "green" can take a lot of "green" and sometimes it does not make sense to us, as God calls us to be good stewards of our money as well. Which brings me to kind of where I am heading with this post and choices in the groceries that we buy.
After S was finished with pharmacy school and actually had a job was the first time we had a little bit more in the grocery budget and really thought about the option of buying organic food. It was also the first time we had been away from rural small (or smallish) towns where you knew where the food was coming from. In the big city, looking at the ground beef in the giant grocery stores just scared me. And THEN we had kids! All of a sudden we am responsible for what we put into their little bodies, and that kind of pushed us over the edge into making more organic choices. Now we do we buy organic everything? Goodness no! Once again, we try to be stewards of our money as well. We make what we think are the best choices according to what our family eats. I won't bore you all with the details, but instead, I will bore you with the savings on organic foods that I have had the past couple of grocery trips!
Dear auntie A has been "couponing" for a number of months now and has been finding the savings incredible. Enough so that when she lost her ~10 hr a week part-time job, she found she didn't have to look for another one - they are able to live off her other ~30 hr a week salary, even with M in school. She blogs about her couponing adventures here if you care to take a peek. I have always been a fan of coupons (after all, I am Dutch!! =), but only casually used them here and there when I had the time to look through the Sunday paper and I remembered to bring them to the store. A has been inspiring me to pay a bit more attention to coupons and I have been able to find quite a few organic ones in the past week due to Earth Day which has been fun. I also have been utilizing our local co-op's seasonal coupons and monthly specials (do this all the time), and scoured our Blue-Sky Guide for extra coupons too and it all added up to these savings on organic products in the past week:
(I would love to type out everything that I got like A does, but this tired momma needs to go to bed sometime today too! I basically bought - and stocked up in some cases - things that we either normally get organic, stuff that with coupons would be at or less than what I pay for non-organic things we buy, and just one or two things to splurge because I had a coupon too! =)
Local Co-Op (love this place!!! =)
Total before sales + coupons: $85.75
Total after sales: $70.25
Total after monthly member discount: $ 65.97
Total after coupons: $43.97
Total savings: $ 41.78 (48.7%)
-- ok, I will admit this is a crazy amount to save on a trip to the co-op and won't happen this big very often, but I was pretty excited about it none-the-less!
Rainbow
Total before sales + coupons: $38.84
Total after sales: $26.51
Total after reusable bag discount: $26.11
Total after coupons:$ 25.11
Total savings: $13.73 (35.3%)
Cub
Total before sales + coupons: $123.63
Total after sales: $102.37
Total after reusable bag discount: $102.12
Total after coupons: $85.62
Total savings: $38.01 (30.7%)
GRAND TOTAL
Pre-savings bill: $248.22
Post-savings bill: $154.70
Savings total: $93.52 (37.7% savings)
Not too bad for organic shopping....
After S was finished with pharmacy school and actually had a job was the first time we had a little bit more in the grocery budget and really thought about the option of buying organic food. It was also the first time we had been away from rural small (or smallish) towns where you knew where the food was coming from. In the big city, looking at the ground beef in the giant grocery stores just scared me. And THEN we had kids! All of a sudden we am responsible for what we put into their little bodies, and that kind of pushed us over the edge into making more organic choices. Now we do we buy organic everything? Goodness no! Once again, we try to be stewards of our money as well. We make what we think are the best choices according to what our family eats. I won't bore you all with the details, but instead, I will bore you with the savings on organic foods that I have had the past couple of grocery trips!
Dear auntie A has been "couponing" for a number of months now and has been finding the savings incredible. Enough so that when she lost her ~10 hr a week part-time job, she found she didn't have to look for another one - they are able to live off her other ~30 hr a week salary, even with M in school. She blogs about her couponing adventures here if you care to take a peek. I have always been a fan of coupons (after all, I am Dutch!! =), but only casually used them here and there when I had the time to look through the Sunday paper and I remembered to bring them to the store. A has been inspiring me to pay a bit more attention to coupons and I have been able to find quite a few organic ones in the past week due to Earth Day which has been fun. I also have been utilizing our local co-op's seasonal coupons and monthly specials (do this all the time), and scoured our Blue-Sky Guide for extra coupons too and it all added up to these savings on organic products in the past week:
(I would love to type out everything that I got like A does, but this tired momma needs to go to bed sometime today too! I basically bought - and stocked up in some cases - things that we either normally get organic, stuff that with coupons would be at or less than what I pay for non-organic things we buy, and just one or two things to splurge because I had a coupon too! =)
Local Co-Op (love this place!!! =)
Total before sales + coupons: $85.75
Total after sales: $70.25
Total after monthly member discount: $ 65.97
Total after coupons: $43.97
Total savings: $ 41.78 (48.7%)
-- ok, I will admit this is a crazy amount to save on a trip to the co-op and won't happen this big very often, but I was pretty excited about it none-the-less!
Rainbow
Total before sales + coupons: $38.84
Total after sales: $26.51
Total after reusable bag discount: $26.11
Total after coupons:$ 25.11
Total savings: $13.73 (35.3%)
Cub
Total before sales + coupons: $123.63
Total after sales: $102.37
Total after reusable bag discount: $102.12
Total after coupons: $85.62
Total savings: $38.01 (30.7%)
GRAND TOTAL
Pre-savings bill: $248.22
Post-savings bill: $154.70
Savings total: $93.52 (37.7% savings)
Not too bad for organic shopping....
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
supper success!
I don't think I have officially done a recipe post before, but after tonight's supper, I thought I would share one. This recipe, (which I found on the internet and then changed it a bunch keeping the basic idea only =), is so simple and kid-friendly, and it is fun and interactive too. I feel like we have been in such a rut with meals lately, and especially with ones that the kids will actually eat. So tonight was refreshing to say the least! So here it is as we prepared it tonight:
~~~~~
Canadian Bacon Pineapple Pizza Pasta
1 lb mini bow tie pasta
1 jar marinara/spaghetti sauce
1/2 - 1lb ham, cubed
1 jar pineapple tidbits, drained
shredded mozzarella cheese
Cook pasta according to box, drain, then add back to pot with sauce to heat through. Cube ham, drain pineapple, and shred cheese (or open shredded cheese package as I did - I have a fear of cheese graters that I won't go into right now!) and put them in separate bowls. Then when you are ready to eat, put a layer of noodles in the bottom of your pasta bowl (or plate or clearance Easter cow melamine bowls), and sprinkle the ham, pineapple and cheese on top of the pasta like pizza toppings! You can then microwave the dish to heat the toppings and melt the cheese if you'd like. Serve with good bread and a salad and there ya go!
~~~~~
Great fun was had by all tonight with this meal, and both G & W packed away so much food, and without us having the normal rigmarole or hullabaloo! They are not uber-picky about food, but they are not garbage disposals by any means either. I would say they are typical kid-picky. They aren't fans of casseroles, don't care to try new things (although we always make them take a "try" of whatever we are eating), like crustless sandwiches, and their favorites are of course mac'n'cheese (which they call mac'n'noodle), cheese pizza, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets. So I know that tonight wasn't packed with exotic veggies or exciting new ingredients, but it was new to us, fun for all, and everyone was full and happy after supper. So give it a try, whether you have kids or are just a kid at heart, and enjoy!
~~~~~
Canadian Bacon Pineapple Pizza Pasta
1 lb mini bow tie pasta
1 jar marinara/spaghetti sauce
1/2 - 1lb ham, cubed
1 jar pineapple tidbits, drained
shredded mozzarella cheese
Cook pasta according to box, drain, then add back to pot with sauce to heat through. Cube ham, drain pineapple, and shred cheese (or open shredded cheese package as I did - I have a fear of cheese graters that I won't go into right now!) and put them in separate bowls. Then when you are ready to eat, put a layer of noodles in the bottom of your pasta bowl (or plate or clearance Easter cow melamine bowls), and sprinkle the ham, pineapple and cheese on top of the pasta like pizza toppings! You can then microwave the dish to heat the toppings and melt the cheese if you'd like. Serve with good bread and a salad and there ya go!
~~~~~
Great fun was had by all tonight with this meal, and both G & W packed away so much food, and without us having the normal rigmarole or hullabaloo! They are not uber-picky about food, but they are not garbage disposals by any means either. I would say they are typical kid-picky. They aren't fans of casseroles, don't care to try new things (although we always make them take a "try" of whatever we are eating), like crustless sandwiches, and their favorites are of course mac'n'cheese (which they call mac'n'noodle), cheese pizza, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets. So I know that tonight wasn't packed with exotic veggies or exciting new ingredients, but it was new to us, fun for all, and everyone was full and happy after supper. So give it a try, whether you have kids or are just a kid at heart, and enjoy!
Friday, April 17, 2009
instead...
There are dishes on the counter that need to be washed. There are toys on the floor that need to be picked up. There is mail on the table that needs to be dealt with. There is tax paperwork that needs to be filed away. There is a grocery list to be made and meals to be prepared. There are other blog posts that I want to write. There is even a small bit of unpacking left to do after our trip last weekend. But today was not a day to do any of that. It was one of the most beautiful days that we have had yet this spring, so instead...
The dishes will be there tomorrow, as well as the floors to be picked up, the groceries and meals, and the paperwork too. But we are so thankful that we spent our day doing something else instead!
...we did this,
...and this,
...and this,
...oh, and this (ok, so I did get a little housework accomplished today, only because I could do this! =),
...and lots of this,
...and silly dadda even did this,
...what a perfect day to do this,
...and this,
...oh, and of course a little of this,
...plenty of this,
...had fun doing this,
...was so happy to look like this,
...and ended the day with this,
...making for one tired and happy family.
...and this,
...and this,
...oh, and this (ok, so I did get a little housework accomplished today, only because I could do this! =),
...and lots of this,
...and silly dadda even did this,
...what a perfect day to do this,
...and this,
...oh, and of course a little of this,
...plenty of this,
...had fun doing this,
...was so happy to look like this,
...and ended the day with this,
...making for one tired and happy family.
The dishes will be there tomorrow, as well as the floors to be picked up, the groceries and meals, and the paperwork too. But we are so thankful that we spent our day doing something else instead!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
GEESE in a river
On the trip to and from Boppa and Aahma R's this past weekend, the kids wanted to listen to only 1 cd: VeggieTales Sunday School Songs. I love VeggieTales, but 8 hours of the same cd got pretty old - although I couldn't argue much being that the kids were happy listening to it and even after the 6th hour or so of it, W still shouted "is fun! hiss is fun!" as he and G rocked out to "This Little Light of Mine."
Anyway, one of the songs on the cd is "I've got Peace like a River." Today when the kids were playing, W starts singing "I got peace yike a river, I got peace yike a river, I got peace yike a river in my SOUL!"
G looks up from her coloring and says, "No, no, no, W! It's 'I've got GEESE in a river!"
Anyway, one of the songs on the cd is "I've got Peace like a River." Today when the kids were playing, W starts singing "I got peace yike a river, I got peace yike a river, I got peace yike a river in my SOUL!"
G looks up from her coloring and says, "No, no, no, W! It's 'I've got GEESE in a river!"
Monday, April 6, 2009
a new day...a new week...
Phew. Last week was a roller coaster. We had a really really bad day, a really good day, a couple ok days, and a couple not so ok days. Same with nights, although we had more bad nights than good ones last week which hasn't happened for quite a while. I won't go into all the specifics, but we dealt with discipline issues, eating issues, fighting issues, sleeping issues, and fussy issues. But we also had lots of laughs and smiles and hugs and good times too. I didn't blog anything because we were tired - all of us. And we still are tired! But S & I figure we are going to be tired for another 18 years at least...=) We do like to hold onto what sis-in-law C tells us every once in a while - "When they are 16 they will be able to put themselves to bed and will sleep all through the night! Or at least won't bother you when they wake up!" Needless to say, I am glad today is a new day and the start of a new week too. Hopefully we will have more good days and nights than bad this go around. But even if we don't, we know that God knows our strengths and weaknesses and chose us to be parents to these 3 beautiful children, and will give us the tools that we need to make it through.
Just another good reminder of how blessed we are...
Just another good reminder of how blessed we are...
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