Monday Menu Plan

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I am trying to just start and get myself back on track. In reality, I finally feel I am not behind on the important stuff and the house is half way decent. But I just have not had the energy to focus on the blog in several months but I know I need to and I know it will help me focus on other things as well so this is my starting small. I am continuing to try and not let food be wasted due to it going bad and to use what we have.
Another way I am starting small is that we did not eat out after church yesterday!  This saved us easily $100, we already have a plan not to eat out next Sunday as well. So No spending is at least off to a decent start. 

Breakfast- Saturday- Sausage balls and Dutch boy pancakes (some in freezer as well). Sunday-  bacon, eggs and toast Monday- bagels   Tuesday, Wednesday,  Thursday  and Friday– Find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, French toast, breakfast burritos  and eggs). I would like to make a baked oatmeal one morning but no promises. 

Lunch- Saturday- Costco   Sunday-baked potatoes   Monday,   Tuesday   Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- Leftovers or salad. I will be eating out on Friday but that should be it. 

Dinner- Saturday-left-overs   Sunday-Dad’s chicken Stew   Monday-Pick a soup Tuesday Big Mac Salad using lettuce from the garden!  Wednesday- Taco Pasta  Thursday- Pepperoni Pizza   Friday- Eat on the way to Zach’s game! 

October in Review

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I had high hopes for October that things would be less stressful and less expensive. However that did not happen.  What did happen is that I have been trying to remember how far we have come  as well as these  two very powerful truths.  1. You can’t have a testimony without a test. Otherwise it is just you moaning (very wise Christian lady said this often)  2.  Satan would not care what we were doing or try to interfere if it did not have enteral value.  Finally I have been assured and have visible proof that God is and will provide over and above anything I could imagine.  I would love to have a No Spend November but this is not a realistic goal for our family at this time. What I am planning is to keep spending at a minimum for the remainder of the year and to watch as God multiples and supplies our every need.

Groceries- Goal $800 per month.  We spent $1114.93      This did include not one but two trips to Costco this month. I am starting and planning for a 4-6 month pantry challenge in November. I am only going to buy what we are out of as well as try and use up as much as possible that is already on hand. I am allowing a couple of exceptions including our trip to Disney in December, Christmas and the Super Bowl party. My goal for now until March or April is $200 a month but if that does not happen God will provide.

Gas- Goal is $400.  Total spent was$420.30  for gas  this month. This amount does  not include the two tanks of gas we spent going to and from the beach. The reason is I included those in our trip breakdown. This is not a category I have much control over instead this is really a place holder and way for me to stay realistic when making the budget.  We also had to have an oil change in the Tahoe this month which is the first one that we actually paid for. November will be pricey as well due to registration and insurance both being due.

Blogging-The goal will be 15 posts per month.  This is post 5 for October.   I am guessing that is one of the lowest months ever.  I can plan and hope but God is in control.

Debit-   The goal for 2026 will be to pay off the Home Depot Credit card without interest. We failed at this.  New expenses continue to come up. I am frustrated and hope to be able to had a new realistic budget in place by January 1 2027. Otherwise I am just allowing God to control my fears and money.

No Spend Days- Goal for 10 no spend days a month. As I mentioned above I would love to make 15 or more no spend days for the money but only time will tell.

Health/Exercise-I am a stress eater. Life is stressful. Enough said

Foster Care-   Disappointed as our court date was continued due to Mom’s being appointed a new attorney. Our next court date is November 17th.  I am planning a whole blog post about Foster care and how the system is working right now.

Camping for Fun

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As you have probably noticed I have been missing most of the month of October. It has been crazy busy, full of broken things and sickness but this past weekend we escaped it all for a couple of days.

This was a trip we decided we needed in September and the only available weekend or chance for a reality break was based on the football schedule.  I am so glad we made it happen!  Lesson of the month, if a teenager suggesting getting away as just a family you need to do it.

We left Friday around 11:30 and arrived back in the driveway Sunday around 4pm. But we managed to squeeze lots of fun into a short time. We did not know when we first started planning that Ocean Lakes campground does a “Halloween experience” each weekend in October. We decide immediately to join in.  We decorated out campsite and Easton enjoyed trick  or treating with probably at least a thousand other kids.   I got to spend at least 3 hours sitting on a beach with the sand on my feet and wind in my hair.  I needed that refresher, even the need for a blanket in the sun did not damp my enjoyment but it did shorten the length we sat there. We enjoyed a food truck festival and bounce houses on Saturday. A fire pit and smores along with an outdoor movie added to the fun.  The cost for this quick getaway was $1106 and I consider it well spent money!

Here is a cost breakdown if you care

Campsite $175
Golf cart $108
Water hose and snacks at campground $82.30
One tank of gas $82.30, this was our fill up at the beach we also had a tank before we left and another just as we got home.
Laundry $25 this was for our beds and towels so that less sand came home with us
Food Truck and bounce house $60
Pizza Lunch on Friday and we enjoyed left-overs all weekend $37.40
Buffet Dinner on Friday $275
Breakfast on Saturday $120
Sunday Breakfast $26
Christmas Mouse $112

As you can see we did ALOT of eating out and we enjoy this as it truly is a treat for us that we enjoy!

 

Monday Menu Post

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This weekend was absolutely fantastic but as I am looking ahead and I realized that we seriously need to clear out some food before it goes bad.  I think the first major difference is that we are down to one refrigerator in the house we need to reduce the extra food because if it is moved outside it definitely will not get used.  My plan this week is to clear out as much as possible and only make enough food for one meal so that we don’t add to the choas and food waste.  I will be cleaning out any bad food tonight (Monday) as well !   Almost forgot to add that meals on Saturday and Sunday look very different as they were part of our trip fun!

Breakfast- Saturday-Omega House (local to Ocean Lakes) Sunday- Campground store as I am working on laundry  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,  Thursday   and Friday–I am going to try and make a loaf of sweet bread to go along with the other food we have. Find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, French toast, breakfast burritos  and eggs).

Lunch- Saturday- food trucks   Sunday-meatballs sliders on the way home (our new favorite travel food)  Monday,   Tuesday   Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- Leftovers or salad. I will be total honest and admit that sense most of my week is in my office, lunch out will happen likely 3 days.

Dinner- Saturday- hot dogs and smores  Sunday- start eating these leftovers!   Monday-Clean out the fridge night  Tuesday Chicken Tacos (this will be the last of these) Wednesday- KFC bowls using the mashed potatoes already made  Thursday-  Kielbasa and rice  Friday- One box of hamburger Helper

As I am looking ahead to the last two month of the year, I am planning to focus on using up the food we have aka starting the pantry challenge and going for four months! My rules will be to only buy fresh fruit if I am at the store, ordering diary as needed, Sodas are a must but bread will be a combination of ordering if we need something else and making our own.  A couple of exceptions will be for parties, holiday meals and trips of course.  Ok so a modified pantry challenge for at least three of the four months!

September in Review

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September has been a very long hard and stressful month. We have had multiple small things that have required extra time, money and attention. I am hoping that October is less eventful and expensive. I have had to do some major adjusting to the budget to minimize the impact and I am honestly not sure if I will be successful or not. What I am sure of is that I have a decent plan.

Groceries- Goal $800 per month.  We spent $213.33  for the month of September. This met my goal for the month of staying below $300. We have lost 2 of our freezers recently so I am really starting to look at the food budget and using up everything and anything on hand. October will be more expensive due to needing to restock on paper products.  I am going to set that goal at $600. I will be making a trip to Costco to restock these items. Other than the Costco trip, I am going to plan to do a Walmart order every 2 weeks at around $40 for perishable items that we need to replace. If we are able to complete this in October than I will reduce the November and December budgets as well accordingly.

Gas- Goal is $400.  Total spent was $607.21 for gas  this month. This amount does  include the trip to Florida. Considering that the price of gas continues to rise we are doing all we can to keep this amount as low as possible. I am likely going to have to increase this to $500 a month for next year.

Blogging-The goal will be 15 posts per month.  This is post 12 for me.  I am very proud of this number based on my stress level alone.

Debit-   The goal for 2026 will be to pay off the Home Depot Credit card without interest. We failed at this.  September has been one of the most expensive months I can remember. At this point I am struggling with the budget. My new goal to to make minimal payments and to be able to come up with a solid budget starting in January. God has and does provide.

No Spend Days- Goal for 10 no spend days a month. Total honesty I was able to keep up with this for the first fifteen days of the month. 1 of which was a no spend day. I will try to make this a propriety in the month of October but so far it has not worked.

Health/Exercise-I am a stress eater. September was stressful. Enough said
Foster Care-  Our next court date is set for October 20th. For the first time in 9 months, both parents have showed up for 3 visits in a row. This is progress on their part.  E is struggling with visits with more aggression after each visit.

Stressful Month- Water Situation

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September has been a hard month.  It has been a month full of lots of little things going wrong which result in me having to spend all my extra time taking care of the little things and the big things and the normal things and seriously I am just overwhelmed at this point.
In September, we had one freezer die, our refrigerator is acting strange and has been breeding fruit flies that we can’t seem to find where, my car has now been in the shop two weeks including an emergency four hour stop. E has had two visits with his parents that have lasted eight hours or more, Lily moved apartments, Zach had a prank played on him that involved his car and last but not least a water leak.
The house we live in was built in 1976 so it is older and I have lived here for over 30 years so things are going to have to be replaced.  We are responsible for the water line that goes from the water meter to the house and all the lines in the house.  We have already replaced the entire line from the inside of the house to about 5 foot from the meter.  Those last five feet are a pain in the but!
Last Tuesday, Zach noticed a water leak and Matt headed home to check it out and fix it.  We first called the water company because if the leak is on the road side of the meter they are responsible.  I also knew we had replaced most of the line and the connection on our side was replaced less than five years ago when Matt was out of the country for business.   Good news, we thought as the water company came and said yeap it is definitely on our side you are good.  We knew it would be several days before they got to it but was not a big deal.
On Monday as we are driving home, Zach calls and says that the water company has dug on the wrong side of the meter. So I call the company and was informed that it was not a mistake but that the leak of 10 galloons an hour was on my side.  After three very long and unproductive calls, my frustration peaked and my number was given to the “general manager.”  At least this fourth call was productive, the leak was confirmed to have been on my side  for at least a week but the water company acknowledged that several mistakes on their side were made.  Matt, Zach and I spent several hours outside fixing a pin hole leak. Matt originally fixed the leak fairly easily but as soon as he tossed dirt in it another leak started.  I started counting repairs and this stretch had at least 3 previous repairs.   We replaced the stretch of pipe and thought all was good but decided to leave the hole open just in case.  Matt checked and we still had a small drip the next morning.
Part of my productive conversation with the general manager of the water company include forgiveness for the excessive water that had been leaking in the ground because Matt could have and was planning on fixing the leak last week. A second part was they were finally going to change my name from Green to Abbott. I just flat out refused to spend $50 on a name change even after 23 years.  The final part of the agreement was that the general manager was going to come out and make sure that there was not another leak of their side of the meter.
This man kept his word and came out Tuesday morning. He did not find another leak but noticed the drip on our side  and asked if they could repair it.  Sure. Not only did they repair it but the replaced the entire stretch of line including new pipe and fasteners.  This was a small gesture that makes me very thankful and relieves a huge amount of stress from us!

Trip Budget

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I did not post a menu plan today because we did not arrive home until around 6pm and needed to fix a water leak which will probably be a whole separate post.
When Lily moved to Florida in August, she made a lot of the decision entirely on her own because she is an adult.  However the apartment complex she chose did  not end up being the best choice. The day of arrival she was notified that the air conditioning was not working.  They actually had a temporary unit in the apartment. This problem has continued with resolution. The temporary unit was removed after about two week but the problems continued. An additional problem was her electric bill was the same amount as what we typically pay for our entire house.  When the temporary ac unit was removed the outside window was not replaced correctly and could have easily been removed (UNSAFE).  The stove did not work for the first three weeks because someone had stolen the electric cord. She also discovered last week that her sliding glass door did not actually lock. All this in addition to this was generally not a safe place for a twenty year old and Paul (her dog) cut his foot by stepping on glass.   She made the decision to move and located a better apartment in the center of downtown Orlando!  The only problem was she needed to move this past weekend.
Matt, E and I decided to make the trip last Thursday to help her move. We left of Saturday morning, grabbed a U-Haul truck and loaded everything up on Saturday night by 7:30pm.  On Sunday, Haley joined us to help her unload everything in the new apartment.   We finished around 2 pm, so E spent the night with Lily, Haley went home and Matt and I had a date night at Hollywood Studios.
I knew we wanted to make the trip as economical as possible and I feel like we accomplished it!    Matt and I ended up eating at Hollywood’s Brown Derby for dinner on Saturday which was $200. I did not included that in the cost we chose to have a nice dinner which was not necessary but really enjoyed. We also have passes to Disney and parking is included in my pass so that really was our only date expense.
We stayed about 10 minutes from both of Lily’s apartments. The hotel was $148.10 which included a hot breakfast both mornings. It was not the worst hotel and not the best but I would definitely stay there again if needed. It was a short 25 minute drive to Hollywood Studios.
Total spent on gas $143.90 and we used a variety of discounts and did not pay over $4 a galloon with the national average is $4.19.
Food minus our dinner was $164.67
Miscellaneous expenses weare $312.23 which included a wagon for Lily, two new beach chairs that sit up high that I found on sale and two new shirts.
Total for the 3 day trip including extra spending was $769.00  I am super proud of this number!

Monday Menu Post

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We had our second freezer stop working properly last week. Luckily were were able to plug up the electric cooler and set it to freeze and only lost a couple of items which are really not lost as they went to feed the chickens. We are currently looking at our budget to decide how quickly we need to replace it. The problem comes in when we make a Costco trip and need space for convivence items. I was able to make a batch of spaghetti sauce on Saturday which we used for two meals and I canned two more jars.

Breakfast- Saturday-Banana bread  Sunday- Sausage Crestant rolls  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,  Thursday   and Friday–We have alot of breakfast leftovers from our Sunday dinner. This was planned and should make the week much easier. Find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, pancakes and eggs).

Lunch- Saturday- meatballs,  Sunday-NC Cancun(Weherley’s choice)  Monday,   Tuesday   Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- Leftovers or salad.

Dinner- Saturday- Spaghetti and meatballs   Sunday- Breakfast for dinner   Monday-Cheesy Taco Potatoes   Tuesday BBQ chicken legs and baked beans , Wednesday- Cheeseburger pizza  Thursday-  Chicken pie  Friday- chicken nuggets