The Sweet Life On A Budget

  The Frugal Five With inflation on the rise and our salaries not being able to keep up, it seems like we have taken a pay cut and must be more careful with our money.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate our daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.     1- Meal Planning   I have a teenage boy who eats an excessive amount of food and has dietary restrictions, so meal planning is a MUST.  With a super busy schedule this summer, it is important that our meals are easy to prepare or can be prepared ahead of time.    In order to keep our budget as low as possible, we cook from scratch and eat at home as much as possible.   This week has been extremely busy and jammed-packed with activities and with little time to prepare dinner, I set aside a few hours on Sunday for meal prep.   This made all the difference in the world and kept us from eating out this week.    2- Homemade Croutons I mad...

  We have a Meal planning is essential to eating healthy, keeping the grocery bill down, and maintaining your sanity throughout a workweek.   In addition to meal planning, I try to prepare meals as much as possible over the weekend.   This helps to lower my stress during the week.    However, if we have a busy weekend, I try to plan simple or crockpot meals.         Meal Preparation Plan NOTE-  1- Click on the picture and get a link to a post sharing the recipe.  2- Although all prices were correct at the time of the blog postings, the current cost of preparation of these dishes may be higher due to inflation and/or location.      Breakfast Options:  Yogurt Bagels Oatmeal Bake Monday Stuffed Bell Pepper* Salad Bread Tuesday Pasta Sausage Salad Rolls Wednesday Bratwurst French Fries Cole Slaw Thursday Leftovers Friday Pizza Salad Spinach Artichoke Dip Saturday Grilled Chicken  Buffalo...

  The Frugal Five With inflation on the rise and our salaries not being able to keep up, it seems like we have taken a pay cut and must be more careful with our money.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate our daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.     1- Picking up Cheap or Free Deals  CVS Thanksgiving July deals continue this week.     I was able to pick up several items from them for free this week.   In addition, I picked up a few items from Walmart using various rebate apps.    Here is what I was able to pick up this week:  Envy Apple- Shopkicks Perfect Bar- IBOTTA CVS Health Kids Floss Picks (75 ct)- CVS Coupon CVS Acetaminophen (50 ct)- CVS Coupon  2 5x7 photos- Walgreens Code  Aboard Cheddar Popcorn- CVS Coupon Beauty 360 Nail Finishing Buffer- CVS Beauty Club CVS Air Shield (10ct)- CVS Coupon 3 Boxes Theater Candy- Sale B2  G1, Extra Care Bucks 2 Gold Emblem Trai...

  We have a Meal planning is essential to eating healthy, keeping the grocery bill down, and maintaining your sanity throughout a workweek.   In addition to meal planning, I try to prepare meals as much as possible over the weekend.   This helps to lower my stress during the week.    However, if we have a busy weekend, I try to plan simple or crockpot meals.         Meal Preparation Plan NOTE-  1- Click on the picture and get a link to a post sharing the recipe.  2- Although all prices were correct at the time of the blog postings, the current cost of preparation of these dishes may be higher due to inflation and/or location.      Breakfast Options:  Yogurt Bagels Cranberry Orange Muffins Monday Pasta Sausage Salad Bread Tuesday Mexican Salad Chips w/ Salsa Wednesday Bratwurst French Fries Cole Slaw Thursday Pulled Pork  (Brought home by Hubbie) Fries Salad Friday Grilled Steak Salad...

  The Frugal Five With inflation on the rise and our salaries not being able to keep up, it seems like we have taken a pay cut and must be more careful with our money.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate our daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.     1- Gas Fill-up  Last week my son was at camp, so I didn’t fill up my car at all.    This week we are back to needing to take him to practice and completing errands.   Since the stores I shop at are along the route to his practices, I will stop at stores strategically when he goes to practices. Not only does this save on gas but also time.     In addition, when I filled up this week, Kroger’s gas prices were equal to the others in the area, so I took advantage of my June gas points and was able to fill up for $3.59 per gallon.     That was a savings of $10.00.      2- Increased Focus on Getting Deals This week I de...

  The news is full of headlines indicating that energy shortages are on the horizon for most of the world. Over the decades, we have become reliant on the coolness of our air conditioners and have forgotten how we survived without them. It is now time to rediscover how to stay cool without our AC. Our 5 part series provides ideas on how to beat the heat this summer without the AC.     House Adjustments- Part 2 By placing house plants, such as English ivy, ficus, and spider plants, throughout your home, you can drop the overall temperature of your house by 10 degrees. In addition, house plants are air purifiers and add oxygen to your home.     For quick relief, create a personal mister to help drop the temperature of your skin: thus making you feel colder. Some people combine a spray bottle and a fan to create a cooling effect. However, I use just the spray bottle with cold water throughout the day and it keeps me cool. In addition, we use coo...

  We have a Meal planning is essential to eating healthy, keeping the grocery bill down, and maintaining your sanity throughout a workweek.   In addition to meal planning, I try to prepare meals as much as possible over the weekend.   This helps to lower my stress during the week.    However, if we have a busy weekend, I try to plan simple or crockpot meals.         Meal Preparation Plan NOTE-  1- Click on the picture and get a link to a post sharing the recipe.  2- Although all prices were correct at the time of the blog postings, the current cost of preparation of these dishes may be higher due to inflation and/or location.      Breakfast Options:  Yogurt Banana Chip Muffins Monday Dinner w/ Neighbors Loaded Potato Salad Pasta Salad Tuesday Pasta Primavera Homemade Gravy Salad Garlic Bread Wednesday Thai Lettuce Wraps Grilled Vegetables Cole Slaw Thursday Mexcian Fajita  Chips w/ S...