How Low Can I Go?

A article in our local paper today made me say "Hmmmm. .. . ." and also "that's crazy!" The article is about four families who were asked to lower their food budgets. These families started out with ridiculously high food budgets, but their "lower" budgets were way over what I would spend, too! For example: a family of three, mom, dad and 3 year old son spent $200 a week on groceries and $150 a week eating out!! My question is after spending $200 a week for three people why would you need to go out and eat? So they have lots of room to save but they only cut it down to $135 a week on groceries and $40 eating out. They did cut a lot from their budget but could they have done more?

I have a family of 6 - me, my husband and four kids including two teen age girls who run cross country and track (and eat an amazing amount of food for their little tiny size 2 bodies!) and beat myself up when I go to the store and spend $100 a week on groceries. Why can't I do it for under that?? I should be able to do it for less. I got really lazy while I was going to school. It was just easier to buy some convenience foods than cooking from scratch. But my excuses are lame and I just really need to try harder.

So, here is my personal challenge to myself: I want to average under $100 a week this month for food. This will include grocery store, Costco trips, and eating out. It will not include laundry detergent, dish soap, toilet paper etc, or popcorn at the Saturday matinee (that falls under entertainment and not food - it has no nutritional value anyway!). I will save receipts and post my progress here just to keep myself honest. I'm starting today. Good luck to me!

Jill

You know you're an Oregonian when . .

You know you're a real true Oregonian when you love the rain! The last three days have been dry and relatively warm here in the Northwest but that all changed today. The clouds rolled in yesterday afternoon and at about noon today it started to rain. I grew up here in Oregon and I can honestly say I love the rain. Something about being inside my nice warm home while the rain splatters against the windows and pings on the fireplace insert makes me feel so secure. I feel cozy and sheltered. When people talk about "cocooning" - making a safe, secure, cozy place out of our homes so that we have a place to shelter from the outside world - this is the feeling that I picture. My home is in order, food in the cupboards, warm cat by my side, what more could I want? The only thing missing is all my family out and about in their lives -work and school. When they come home and we are all accounted for, then I will feel as if all is right with the world. Well, once I make us all a cup of cocoa!

Jill

Lazy Sunday

Yesterday was a wonderful day! The weather was warm and beautiful and we got so much accomplished. The only bad point was that Jim hurt his back and is hobbling like a really old man today! Hopefully, it is a temporary tweak that will work itself out with time and TLC.

I got my whole garden planted yesterday afternoon. I'm doing a really scaled back version this year because we don't even know if we will be here to harvest it all. The raised beds, however, look much better when they are filled than when they are not. I wanted them to look like gardens and not boxes of dirt! I planted flowers (marigolds, petunias and snapdragons) and veggies. I did veggie starts of basil and tomatoes and did seeds for chives, green beans, peas, lettuce, spinach and carrots. I'm very hopeful that I won't get to taste any of these!

Today is Sunday and I'm taking the rest of the day off. I taught Sunday School this morning and I'm tired and cranky! I'm going to curl up and read a good book and maybe bake something this afternoon - brownies anyone?

Jill

Sunny Saturday

Today is Saturday and really, really sunny! For the first time in almost 6 months we are going to be over 65 degrees today. And probably over 70! Since we have so much to do to get the house ready to sell, we will be spending the day working - hopefully outside most of the day. We do, however, have rooms to paint and a storage unit to fill so it won't be all outside!

Wish me luck because it is going to be a long, long day!!

Jill

New Chapter

Just shortly before I graduated I received a letter that would pull me up short and cause me to really look at what I wanted with my life. I was rejected for the Master of Fine Arts program at Pacific University. I decided that what I probably wanted to do was go back to my original plan and get my Master of Teaching and teach elementary or middle school. The problem was that I needed to make that decision right now. The deadlines for this year were just a week or two away. After taking a day or two and talking with Jim I decided to wait a year and go next year. This gives me time to recover from the whole college thing for awhile and spend some time with my kids. It also gives me time to really decide what I want to do with the rest of my life.

In the meantime, Jim and I have decided to move. We (really, I) have always wanted some land - just an acre or two. With prices being a little lower right now, the time is now! Our house will go on the market next week and then we'll start really looking for our dream house.

Jill

In which I announce I'm a college graduate!

As of about 3 weeks ago, I am officially a graduate of Portland State University! Going back to school to finish my degree was something I was always going to do "someday" and that someday is now! I think I'm going to "walk" in June even though it is an incredibly long ceremony and costs a bunch for cap and gown. I worked hard for this and I'm going to go out in style!

The $146 Pineapple

Tonight my husband and I went on a "date." These days, sadly, a date consists of a quick dinner and running errands together (without the kids, hence the date part). Tonight we actually ate dinner at home with all four kids and then went to Borders and Costco. We went to Costco first because it was 6:30 p.m. and that is the magic time to go to Costco. Did you know that if you go to Costco at 6:30 p.m. you can park in the first row in the parking lot and that there are no annoying "meanderers" blocking the aisles with their carts, or that there are usually checkers just waiting for someone to need them? It's amazing!
We walked in and went down the office supply aisle. I had seen a really neat bulletin board that I thought would look great in our kitchen and I wanted Jim's advice.
"It would look good, but would it be big enough?" he asked. That had been my concern also, plus we didn't have a cart so we would have to carry it around with us. We decided to leave it there while we thought about it.
"What are we here for?" Jim asked. I hadn't told him why we were going just that I needed to go there.
"A pineapple." I answered.
"What? Just a pineapple?"
I explained that I was in charge of bringing fresh pineapple to the Superbowl party and
Costco has the cheapest, biggest and freshest pineapple around.
On the way over to the fruit section we passed the books. "Oh, I want to see if Oprah's new book club selection is here." I said as I scanned the piles and piles of books. Sure enough, there it was - and only $7.99! Jim said go ahead and get it it's only $7.99. So I picked it up and carried it over the the pineapples. I picked the best pineapple and we headed towards the front.
"Oh! We are out of chicken bouillion cubes!" We use them to make our favorite after church meal, Tortellini soup. We turned left and grabbed some.
"This is what I hate about coming to Costco, " Jim says. "There is all this fun stuff and I just want to buy it all." I agreed.
"Ok, should we go look at the bulletin board one more time?" Jim asked.
"Yeah, we probably should." We walked back over the the office supplies.
"Oh look, the Magic Bullet mixer system. The girls think we should buy that." I mentioned as we walked passed a display. We did need a new blender, the motor on ours had gotten fried recently after 17 years of valiant service. It was $49.99 though, did we really need to spend that much? We debated and walked back and forth between the bulletin boards and the Magic Bullets several times while we tried to decide. We finally decided to get both. We must have looked pretty funny - no cart, one book, one large bulletin board, the Magic Bullet, chicken bouillon cubes, oh, and a pineapple! There was no waiting at the front and someone even came running over to help us carry everything. After scanning my card the checker informed us that we were due to renew our Costco membership - would we like to add that to our order? Sure.
As we were wheeling out Jim asks, "How much was the total?"
"You don't want to know." I answered. "Ok, you do, $146.56."
Jim rolls his eyes and says "For a pineapple?"
Yeah, all for a pineapple.