The Sweet Life On A Budget

WHAT I SPENT AND WHAT WE ATE I have been looking at my overflowing freezers and very full pantry over the holiday week and wondering why am I still going grocery shopping?   I am planning on making January my Pantry/Freezer Challenge month. This is what I’m doing…… First I am taking an inventory of both my freezer and pantry to see exactly what I have.  Then I will be menu planning around what I have and only purchasing what we need which will focus on perishable items such as fruit, vegetable and milk which should be about $35.00 a week.  I am low on a few key life items (AKA Coffee, cat food, cat litter, etc.), so I did keep an extra $10.00 in the budget for rock bottom prices on these items. This makes for a total budget of $155.00.   WHAT I SPENT January Spending Week 1 Krogers = $38.48 Week 2 CVS= $1.90 Walgreens= $0.00 Krogers= 38.48 Meijer= 3.24 Week 3 Kroger= $13.21 (Coffee Sale) Meijers= $6.87 CVS= ...

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins -makes 20 I am not sure which website I picked up this recipe from, so unfortunately I am unable to provide credit to the correct person(s).  If you are the person whose recipe this is, please let me know and I will update this post and link your website for the recipe. However, this is the slightly modified Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe I use f requently to use up the bananas that sit a little too long on the counter.  If I don’t have enough bananas to make this recipe, I just peel and freeze the bananas until I have enough. This recipe has turned out to be a family favorite. Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips (Mini Chips work best) 1 egg 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup plain yogurt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Imitation Vanilla works fine in this recipe) 1 cup mashed ripe banan...

Making small changes that have big results. On Friday’s I share 5 frugal ideas to help you maintain The Sweet Life on a Budget.   These things will have money saving ideas and/or a way to enhance your lifestyle for very little money. I continued to work towards spending less at the grocery store this week.  One way that I have been able to accomplish this is by using up my freezer reserves.  I used my chicken stock, cooked shredded chicken, ham, strawberry bag and banana bag. I made: Chicken Creole, Ham (Main Dish and used as Lunch meat), Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, and  Sausage w/ Pancakes and Strawberry Sauce) I baked a loaf of bread and dried out my bread from last week to make bread crumbs. I collected ground coffee and ground egg shells for my garden.  In addition, I placed this on my garden beds before the snowstorm hit our area.  This should help with my garden production this spring. Our life has ...

Gargoyles I have always loved finding Gargoyles throughout the cities I visited.  I was lucky to have lived around or visited some very old cities such as Washington DC, Philadelphia, PA, New Orleans, LA and Columbus, OH.  In addition, whenever I visit new cities, I always look at the building to see if I can spy Gargoyles. Originally Gargoyles were placed on buildings for a very practical reason- to redirect rainwater away from the building.  This was important because if the rainwater would run down the side of the building it would erode the mortar between the stone blocks.   As things happen over history, a folk lore developed around the Gargoyles. The folk lore basically has the purpose of the Gargoyles to scare off evil and to protect against evil spirits.  Therefore, the placement of the Gargoyles on buildings throughout the old sections of town had two purposes: divert rainwater and protect against evil sp...

WHAT I SPENT AND WHAT WE ATE I have been looking at my overflowing freezers and very full pantry over the holiday week and wondering why am I still going grocery shopping?   I am planning on making January my Pantry/Freezer Challenge month. This is what I’m doing…… First I am taking an inventory of both my freezer and pantry to see exactly what I have.  Then I will be menu planning around what I have and only purchasing what we need which will focus on perishable items such as fruit, vegetable and milk which should be about $35.00 a week.  I am low on a few key life items (AKA Coffee, cat food, cat litter, etc.), so I did keep an extra $10.00 in the budget for rock bottom prices on these items. This makes for a total budget of $155.00.   WHAT I SPENT January Spending Week 1 Krogers = $38.48 Week 2 CVS= $1.90 Walgreens= $0.00 Krogers= 38.48 Meijer= 3.24 Week 3 Kroger= $13.21 (Coffee Sale) Meijers= $6.87...

Taco Soup ($.48 per cup serving) Our love of taco soup started while my husband and I were in graduate school.  We didn’t have a lot of money and longed for a yummy dinner on a budget. Our local utility company would send out different recipes each month with the bill.  (Original Recipe in picture) Our taco soup recipe is a modification of the recipe we received in the mall so many years ago and we still enjoy it today.                                 Ingredients: 1 lb. Ground Turkey or Beef 1 Large Onion Chopped 1 pint jar (15 oz) crushed tomatoes 1 package of Taco Seasoning (1-2 Tbsp. homemade) 1 15 oz can of Corn 2 15 oz cans of Red Kidney Beans 1 15 oz can of Black Beans 2 cups of Water Salt and Pepper Hot Sauce (Optional) Directions: 1. Saute ground turkey and onions, drain...