Eat from the Pantry Challenge & Budgets.....

I am proud to say that I have been pretty good with keeping up with my Eat from the Pantry challenge! First, you have to realize that it is hard for me to stick to a "menu" - sometimes, things sound good when you write it out on Monday but by Friday, you do not want that anymore! :-) Second, you need to know that my life is one that changes moment to moment (like many of yours I am sure) - I will have something planned and then someone says they need to be dropped off somewhere, are going to their boyfriends, have to go into work early, or whatever. I might find a "deal" online that I need to run out to do and of course it takes me longer than I thought and then my meal planning is completely off!

Anyway, I did well last week with the menu with only a few changes. Saturday night was when I was going to make my "new" recipe, Three Cheese Noodle Bake - well, my morning turned out to be rushed running Alex to lessons and taking Amanda to donate blood which took longer than anticipated because she almost passed out! Thankfully I was back by then from dropping Alex off and she didn't have to be alone. I hate that, when something happens and I am not there! That mommy guilt kicks in full force! So, we only had about 15 minutes at home before having to run out again for Alex's basketball game. We all just snacked on crackers and cheese and a few other things and off we were again. So, there went my chili making in the morning - first planned meal completely out the window. We get back from the game (Alex played great by the way!) and are super hungry so we just dig into leftovers in the fridge - not a bad way to eat from the pantry at least they won't be thrown out like normal! Doug went off to work, Amanda went on a date with Dennis for dinner and Alex and I decided to run a couple of local errands (had to get my newspapers!). When we got back, neither of us were hungry so there goes the burgers and cheesy noodles! I will definitely make those this week because I bought the cheese already. I do really think that making up a menu helps though because I am thinking about it the night before or at least that morning to get stuff out and ready and I will be less likely to say "hey, it's Wednesday, let's just order a half price pizza!" :-)

Surprisingly we have no evening activities planned this week (I hope I didn't just jinx myself!) which is good because this week there are finals so there will be a lot of studying happening in our house. So, here is the menu for the week that the kids and I worked out:

Sunday: Pizza for dinner at my sister-in-laws for my nephew Ty's birthday
Monday:Cheesy Chicken & Rice, veggies
Tuesday:Steak & Creamy Rosemary potatoes - this is my "new" recipe for the week - if you want the recipe go to http://www.theperfectplate.blogspot.com/, veggies, rolls
Wednesday: Chicken & Pasta, garlic bread, salad
Thursday: Tacos, rice, beans, corn
Friday: Burgers with Three Cheese Noodle bake
Saturday: Lunch: frozen pizza & Dinner: Roasted chicken, potatoes, veggies, salad

Alright, since I started keeping track of my grocery/household spending with the Savings Tracker (post on 1/2/10 if you don't know what I am talking about), I decided I would keep track and make a budget for everything else. It is the beginning of a new year so it will be easier that way. So, I have literally tracked everything that we have spent in 2010 and have made a REAL budget. I am glad that I am blogging about it because I think it will make me more accountable for keeping it up! I have made different categories and put in an amount that I think will work. I may have to change a few since we have not kept track of things this way in the past, my numbers may be off. I looked into different ways people are doing their budgets, some on a computer program like Quicken, some with the envelope system, some just writing it down, etc. Well, I kind of like the envelope system where you put a certain amount in there and then when it's gone, it's gone but I don't like the cash part. We use our debit card for everything because we earn points. We earn 4 points for every $1 we spend and it adds up very quickly. We then can use those points to get gift cards (there are other things too but I get the gc's) to places like Target, American Eagle, Restaurants, etc. It's a nice way to be able to go out to eat or buy our needed items with the gift cards so I am going to continue to do that and keep track of what we spend and where it should be deducted from in the budget. Now, I just need to get my husband to remember to give me all of the receipts!

I hope you guys are doing whatever works for you to keep more money in your pocket! :-) Post a comment or email me and let me know what you are doing in this new year to keep track of your spending or if you are joining in on the Eat From the Pantry Challenge!