The Sweet Life On A Budget

  Benjamin Franklin started from humble beginnings and worked his way up to being a very prosperous man.   He knew that everyone’s resources and strengths are different.   However, we all can use our resources and talents to our best advantage.    No one can tell you what this will look like or what you are personally willing to do or give up to achieve your goal.    The only thing we can do is share our experiences, ideas, and solutions.    If you are interested in getting just 1% better at a time, then this post is for you.    We share at least 1 thing that has improved our living within our means and possibly put a little money aside for a rainy day.   This is how we will Live Large In The Cheat Seats . One way to refine our cultural outlook on life is to visit museums.   However, museums sometimes can run up a bill just to enter.   However, Smithsonian Magazine is sponsoring another FREE Museum Day, on September 17, 2022. Museum Day is a one-day event in which participating museums

  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:  We have containers of yogurt to use up over the next week, so yogurt is on the menu for breakfasts, snacks, and possibly lunches.   Yogurt Bagels Monday Jambalaya Broccoli Garlic Bread Tuesday Leftover Chili Bread Wednesday Pasta  w/ Homemade Gravy  Salad Bread Thursday Sandwiches Chips Vegetable Sticks Friday Chicken Wings Fries Saturday Hamburgers

  The Frugal Five: #23 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- Birthday Free-Bees    Each year during my birthday month, several apps provide me with Free-Bees to celebrate my birthday.       Starbuck’s provided me with a drink of my choice and size for free.  In addition, when I purchase coffee at Starbuck, I earn stars which can be redeemed for free beverages.    In addition, Krispy Kreme gave me a dozen of free donuts for my birthday.    It was great to celebrate my birthday with two of my favorite stores.     2- Packed Lunches Daily   Last week started school for both my son and me, so I needed to carefully plan our weeks.    I selected easy meals for dinner and prepacked everyones’ lunches the night before, so there were no excuses for eating out.    Two

  How did we do?  It has been a long summer!     We changed jobs, sold and purchased a house, moved, took a class, worked ESY, switched swim teams and so much more.    We were able to accomplish a lot, but not everything.       We have decided to give ourselves some grace because life was very intense this summer.   Our progress is highlighted below:     Fun in the Sun:  Enjoy our backyard animals Exploring the local pool  Make Smores  Grill out at least twice a month Eat Outside on the screened porch Make Ice Cream - We just bought large amounts of this.     Fishing Picnic Make Popcycles  Fun with Friends Host neighbors for drinks - Our neighbors had us over for Memorial Day, so we brought some wine to enjoy.  Celebrate National Donut Day Celebrate Cow Appreciation Day  Play Frisbee Golf Summer Slide  40 minutes of Summer Slide Work each Day M-F Read at least 3 books on the Certification Reading List Community-Based Adventures  Concerts in the Park Movies in the Park - We decided to g

  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:  Egg McMuffin Yogurt Bagels Monday Bratwurst Fries Black Bean and Corn Salad Tuesday Pizza Wednesday Sandwiches Vegetables w/ Dip Thursday Pasta Homemade Gravy Meatballs Bread Friday Crockpot Chicken Tacos Salad Saturday Court of Honor Dinner Sunday Chili Salad Bread M- Jambalaya T- Left Over Chili W- Pasta Th-  Left Overs Fri- Pizza Sat- C

Classic Lemonade During the dog days of summer, National Lemonade Day is celebrated annually on August 20 th .  Make a pitcher of homemade lemonade, refrigerate until it's ice cold, serve in your best pitcher and enjoy a refreshing glass of this delicious beverage over ice with family and friends.  Happy National Lemonade Day! Lemonade is a classic drink with a simple ingredient list, lemon juice, sugar, and water/ice.   The difference in the recipes is how you combine the ingredients and how much of each will be preferred by your family.  I hope you enjoy the recipe my family enjoys. Ingredients: Lemonade 1 cup simple syrup 6-7 lemons 4 cups of water Simple Syrup 1 cup water 1 cup sugar           Make the simple syrup by bringing 1 cup of water to boil and then add sugar and stir until dissolved.  After sugar is completely dissolved, allow syrup to cool on the counter top. Juice the lemons which will yield approximately 1 cup. Whe

  Our Rich Backyard Life Vacation Art Slowing down and taking the time to enjoy our surroundings is essential to Living the Sweet Life On A Budget.  Whether it is enjoying nature or the beauty of city architecture, taking time to stop and appreciate beauty wherever you find it is essential.   Our Rich Backyard Life looks at the beauty surrounding us, whether it is animals, flowers, buildings, locations, or anything else that we can appreciate in our daily travels. This year we went to Surfside for a short vacation before school started.     Our trip was filled with adventures and excessive beauty.    Several museums, sculptures, and natural beauty were free for the adventurous to behold.   We enjoyed a combination of both the free and low-cost museums and gardens during our stay.   It was incredible to get lost in the beauty another state has to offer.    Every day provided us with a new series of beautiful experiences.    One of my personal favorites was going to T he Franklin G. Burr