Tuesday mornings are my time. Even though they usually start out a bit hectic, the result is a few hours to myself. Riley needs to be at the Middle School by 7:30am on Tuesdays and Thursdays so he and I leave the house at 7:15am. We have a few minutes to ourselves in the van and I can honestly say that we've had some great conversations in that 15 minutes. Then it's back home to load in Anthony, Zeke and Taylor and get them to school. Steve usually gets Brittney to the High School by 8am and I get Sophia to preschool at 8:30am. Then I'm free until 11am!
.
This morning, I used some of my time to sit and chat with a friend that I don't get to see very often any more. Ok, I see her quite a bit but we don't get to talk very often because we're both usually running somewhere or have kids tugging on us. Then I went to the library and picked up more books. Being able to read quickly is a gift and a curse. I can read a normal sized book in just a few hours but that means I go through a lot of books very quickly. I utilize my Nook too but I only download books that are free. I'm blogging for a half hour of my time this morning too :)
....................................................................
.
I've had people ask how I feed our family on such a tight budget. Besides our kids, ages 15, 15, 12, 11, 11, 8 and 3 (yes, I claim Brit's boyfriend Gerald because he eats here more often than not :), we also randomly feed various neighbor kids. More in the summer than the winter but I never want to turn away a kid. I don't claim to have it all figured out and most of what I've done has been out of necessity, not brilliance. So here are a few of my tricks:
* I make a menu every week, with each day including a main dish, fruit & veg. Friday works best for me so I sit down in that morning and figure out what I already have and what I will need to purchase for those meals. I get input from the kids and sometimes even from Steve :)
*I make a list of what I need before I go to the grocery store. I'm very firm in not purchasing anything that's not on the list. Even little Sophia knows things have to be on the list. Then I keep track of costs as I'm going through the store. I stick to $100 total each week and I'll usually take that amount in cash just so I'm not tempted to "just grab one more thing".
*I only go to the grocery store once a week with my list and I only go to Walmart once a month with a list. The Walmart list is posted on the refrigerator and everyone knows that if they need something, it needs to be on the list prior to the shopping trip.
*I make quite a few things that utilize noodles or rice. They're really filling and go a long way because whatever I make has to feed a lot of hungry people. Anthony alone can eat seven hot dogs in buns plus whatever else we're having. The photo below shows a normal 9x13 pan that most people would use to make a hot dish. The bigger one is what I use when I'm making a hot dish for my family. I had it filled last night with a beef/rice hot dish and it was cleaned out by the time supper was over.
*I try to utilize things that are cheap or free. For example, in the fall there are lots of apples so I make lots of jars of applesauce for the winter. My wonderful produce friend Dawnna provides lots of squash to me free of charge so I cook and freeze it in ziplock bags. She also has lots of tomatoes, which my mom cans into spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, salsa and stewed tomatoes for us. I freeze an enormous amount of sweet corn during the fall and sometimes green beans. I cut lots of cucumbers and make them into pickles. All of this helps keep the grocery bills down during the winter/spring.
.
Sometimes it takes a lot of extra time and effort to save money but when we decided years ago that we would leave our old life behind and begin a new adventure with more kids, we knew it wouldn't always be easy. Or should I say, would hardly ever be easy!
But we don't appreciate the things that come too easily, right?
.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment