Keepin' It Real

A few weeks ago a reader commented that they would enjoy seeing a real glimpse into my house during the day. As a blog reader, and a blog writer, it is obvious that bloggers often only show the best of themselves. Which can sometimes leave readers feeling as though they are the only one with a messy house, a disorganized closet, days where they just want to stay in bed, anger at their husbands, etc. It's refreshing when a blogger posts something "really real".

I cringe to post the below photo. You all should feel honored because I never let anyone see my house like this! It was the type of day had someone knocked on the door I probably wouldn't have answered it. But it's real and I decided to post it to make you all feel better about your messy houses, because I doubt it's as bad as this! ;)

The photo is not staged. It looks that way, with all the weird random things strewn about. I often ask myself how a room can look like this within a matter of hours. I wonder why there is an army helmet under the table, pencils all over the floor, and all the other odds and ends that add up to one big mess. Mind you, my house doesn't always look like this. But with three small kids there are days where several rooms in the house can end up looking like this by the end of the day.
It was a fairly quick problem to solve. I then worked on the playroom, which was even worse (how is that even possible?! most of you probably think). I wish I had taken a photo of that before and after, but knowing my children it will be messy again by the weekend. Luckily, with one child at her grandparents and a hubby who arrived home early from work after going in early, I was able to really focus on the playroom and got one whole garbage bag of toys ready for donation and half a bag of trash (broken toys, pieces of paper, etc.). I'm really starting to get that less stuff means less stuff to pick up!

So be honest, was this something you've never seen in your home?! Were you surprised or are you used to it yourself in your homes some days?

I Give Up

I couldn't do it...I couldn't complete the menu plan. I admit defeat.

The thing is, if a family spends a lot over $100 a week on groceries the plan would be a great one to follow to cut meal costs. For us, it ended up being more then we typically spend and much more labor intensive, which may be why I up and quit because a week of sickness and no energy is not a good week to spend much time in the kitchen.

I also felt there was way too much bread in the menu plan. We were already getting sick of beans (three bean dishes in one week with leftovers for lunch). And there was a lot more meat in the menu then we typically eat. In the end, it didn't fit us.

BUT, there were many things I did like about the menu which I will implement. We liked a lot of the recipes and I will be putting them to use in my own menu. I also liked the "make twice as much" amount rule to use the other half in recipes later the week. It's a rule I used to stick to but let drop so will try to get that going again. For example, one night I made rice to go with the salmon patties. I made enough to have leftovers for rice pancakes the next morning and the kids and I finished off the rest for lunch today, warmed with some milk and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. The one cooking time helped make three different dishes. So that is something that I am going to try to work on.

There was a lot of good in the menu but I think this was a bad week to test it out. Did anyone else end up trying this?

Sort It Out

I've fallen off the wagon. Since Thursday evening I've shut down my menu plan and my weight loss plans. Today I'm back on track.

Wednesday evening I started coming down with a cold. I stayed on course on Thursday with the menu plan and rearranging our bedroom for the new mattress that we purchased which was set to arrive that day (yes, we finally upgraded to a new queen size mattress after 10 years on the same full size bed!). By the end of the day I was completely exhausted and my cold only continued to get worse.

Since Friday I've taken it easy and did the bare minimum. I did awake today feeling better and have gotten back on track with the laundry and general pick up of the house.

So how have my goals progressed this past week? I weighed in this morning and have not lost one single pound. I expected that though, as exercise as been out of the picture and the eating the past two days has been less then stellar. I will start over again this week and hope to see a bit of a difference.

The menu stalled out after a couple days. I did find that on Thursday when still at the beginning of the cold I was able to cook three meals that day on auto-pilot because of the menu plan, which was great. By Friday I had zero energy though so relied on frozen foods and quick meals. Today marks day 3 of the menu. So far we've enjoyed it and the only thing we weren't big fans of was the cornmeal much (Becca and Joe ate it...I ate my bowl but wouldn't have wanted seconds, and Jacob just turned his nose up completely). A reader suggested forming it in a loaf pan until cool, cutting it into slices, and frying in some butter. I'm going to try that next time.

We all enjoy the homemade bread and I love the ease of this...prepare the night before and bake the next day. Right now I have the garlic breadsticks in the oven for a snack for this afternoon - they smell delicious! One thing I would change about the menu is the dried milk...I won't be buying that again. After purchasing it I figured that I only saved about $1 and the kids don't like the taste unless it is mixed with their Ovaltine. I will be purchasing regular milk by the gallon now and will use up the rest of the powder with the bread recipe.

Despite feeling sick the past few days I was able to do some organizing. I managed to get my hubby to go through his dresser and closet with me and get rid of what he no longer wears. He still had a lot of what he wore before we were married - 10 years ago! A lot went into the rag bag and what was still nice went into a bag for Goodwill - we were able to fill one whole garbage bag of his clothes alone! A whole other bag of toys and plastic cups and bowls filled another bag and those were dropped off yesterday by hubby. It feels good to have two whole garbage bags worth of items out of the house this week and I'm already 1/4 through another bag! I'm attempting to work on the playroom today and tomorrow.

This and That

One year ago this week (January 3rd, to be exact) Jacob started radiation and chemo. It is wonderful to be starting this year off completely different with our healthy little boy.

Today Jacob had his check-up with the Radiologist so since we were driving such a long way for such a short doctor visit (literally under 5 minutes) I decided to take the kids to a children's museum.

We spent close to three hours there and the kids had a blast. We will be going back again, for sure, but I think next time daddy will come along as well. All three kids wanted to spend the majority of the time in different areas and I felt like my head was going to spin off while trying to keep track of three kiddos going in opposite directions.
The first day of our new menu is going well. Great, in fact. The children enjoyed the new recipe for biscuits this morning along with their eggs and bacon. I prepared the meatloaf for supper this morning and stuck it in the fridge, knowing that we would be out late. I called hubby on the way home from the museum and told asked him to put it in. Once we arrived home I whipped up a batch of the plain muffins, made the mashed potatoes, and heated up the green beans. It was a very filling supper and because I knew exactly what we were having I was able to prepare some of it ahead of time which saved me a lot of time on a very hectic day. I typically would have just picked up something on the way home and am proud that I didn't today. The leftover meatloaf will be used for meatloaf sandwiches for lunch tomorrow.

I just put together the overnight bread, which I will bake tomorrow. Fresh bread with a bean dish will be excellent for supper!

So far so good on the menu plan. Breakfast tomorrow calls for cornmeal mush. I've never had it before and was a bit tempted to skip that, not knowing if the kids will like it or not, but since I don't know it means I should give it a go! Tomorrow shall be interesting as all three meals are different then we are used to, so it is a real test to see how the whole Hillybilly Housewife menu is going to turn out!

Has anyone else decided to give the menu a go?

It sounds like we are in store for a beautiful day weather wise tomorrow. We may reach 50 degrees. For the beginning of January that is amazing! We will make the most of it and spend our time outdoors. I hope your day turns out just as lovely!

Frugal Food Plan

The USDA put a chart out estimating the cost of food for a family of four last January (2011). It was estimated that on the "thrifty" plan a family would spend $598. On the "low cost" it would be $779, "moderate plan" was $974 and "liberal plan" was $1184 (with children ages 6-11). Those amounts are staggering to me...even the "thrifty plan" is almost double what we, a family of 5, spends monthly on food.

Recently I have been in a bit of a rut with cooking. I haven't come up with great meal plans or grocery lists and I wanted some help with that, so decided to try the Hillbilly Housewife's $70 grocery plan which was put together in 2006. It was a complete menu with complete shopping list that would cost $70 for a week. She revised it in 2009 where it ended up costing $82.26. Because it has a complete menu (including snacks), complete shopping list, and a list of preparations to do and when I decided to give it a go. I wanted something easy for a no-brainer week.

It is not a low-fat or completely healthy menu, but it is pretty much from scratch. With me tweaking a few recipes and sticking to the portion control I think it will end up being healthy.

I was hoping to come in around that $82 price tag (even based on 2009 prices) because I didn't have to buy a lot of what was listed (flour, sugar, spices). Unfortunately, I came in at $96.xx

That ends up costing more than what I typically spend each week. Luckily, I don't think that's a final total as some of what I bought will last longer than a week (the corn meal, dry milk, Miracle Whip, etc.). Because I didn't feel there was enough fruit, I added the bananas and watermelon (though I did not count them in the total price).

I'm starting this menu tomorrow and am curious to see how my family likes it. For me, it's not as thrifty as my usual plan, but I thought I would mention it here for those who do spend more and would like to cut back for a week. If we like this menu I may pull it out once a month to have a no-brainer cooking week.

Resolution Odds & Ends

Day 1 of my slim down went well, except for the handful of almond bark pretzels that I had at the end of the day. Everyone deserves a snack though and with that I still did good - instead of grabbing the two or three handfuls that I typically would have I stuck with the one. That's an improvement! Lunch was a salad with chicken pieces, sliced orange pepper, sunflower seeds, and a vinegar dressing. It was so good I'm craving another, but alas I am out of lettuce until Tuesday when the grocery store is open.

I didn't exercise though. I had intended to walk the dog, but with the 40 mph winds we've had all day and the grey, dreary skies I just wasn't motivated enough to go out in that weather. Tomorrow sounds better so I'll get back to exercising!

In part of saving more money this year I want to implement "no spend days". I'd like at least 10 days each month where we spend zip, zero, zilch. While most times there is only one big grocery shopping day of the week...there are often several times throughout the week that we will pick something up here or something up there. While they are items that we need by going out again and again we are bound to pick up several items each shopping trip that we don't need as well. So, by limiting our shopping days we will be saving money.

In order for this to work I have stuck a list of paper on the fridge and write down each thing that we need when we notice it. I'll take it to the store with me and that way I won't have to run back the next day for toilet paper, or the day after that for a pencil sharpener (seriously, in a house full of pencils we could not find one sharpened one last week after Joe broke our pencil sharpener! Kids and pens just don't work well together!), or the day after that for cheddar cheese which I desperately needed for a recipe. I've noticed the past several months that we have been running to the stores way too often and I want to nip that in the bud.

10 days each month are dedicated to no spending. Hopefully it will end up being more but I'm going to make a conscious effort not to go anywhere that money changes hands at least 10 days out of the month. Wish me luck!

I Did It

I weighed myself this morning. There was no gasp of surprise - the number was actually what I thought it would be. No, I'm not brave enough to announce it to the world - yet.

My goal weight is about 15-20 lbs. less than I am now. I am setting a goal for a 1 lb. weight loss each month. If it's more, great, but if not 1 lb. is a very attainable goal. While it may not sound like a lot, those last 10 lbs. are always the hardest to lose...I think everyone can attest to that. If I'm 12 lbs. lighter by the end of the year I will be happy with that.

I will weigh in each Sunday and let you know the results. My scale only goes by pounds (not halves or fourths) so it may take some time to see results. Once I start to see a difference I'll share what works/doesn't work for me.

I'm not obsessed with losing weight. My main goal is to start portion control (I'm really bad with this!) and good food choices. It will be a more of a lifestyle change then a diet.

Otherwise, my goals is for my house to also lose some weight (organization starts NOW!) and my savings account to gain some weight. I'll let you follow along with the process as well! :)

Today is a new beginning...won't you join me?!

Edited to add: If you are on Facebook you may want to "like" my page as I will highlight some simple things on there about my eating, organizing, and budgeting.