Monday Update

Happy Labor Day.  We are celebrating by working...haha.  I worked overnight last night and when I got home Hubby had already left for the day.  Sometimes at work I can cat nap if both the babies are sleeping but I can never count on sleep, which is fine because i am at work.  When I got home this morning while feeding the dogs and letting them have time out of their kennel I worked on the computer and cleaning up a bit.  Around eight I laid down for a nap until one.  I like to listen to Dave Ramsey on the radio from 1-4 when I can.  Since today I dont have my second nanny family, I was free to do so.  While listening to dave, I worked more around the rv and then set off to town to go to the bank.  Ha!  I completely forgot that it was a holiday and the bank was closed.  Bummer!  So I popped in to the grocery store and came directly home.  We are doing a no spend month for September (ill do a whole post about that) so I was only allowed to buy necessities at the store.  No magazines, etc.  I got to listen to Dave on my drive back to the rv.  I find it so inspiring to listen to other people's stories about paying off debt and living frugally.  It doesnt hurt that Dave is hilarious too.  I planned on doing laundry which ended up being tricky.  For the whole rv park, there is one washer and one dryer.  Some of the fancy schmancy rvs have washers and dryers built in, but not ours.  We got the budget version of the rvs.  I had to wait a while to get to use the washer.  When I went to put my clothes in, I found a bullet!  Leave it to Texans to not empty their pockets and have bullets fall out.  It gave me a chuckle.  To save money (unless its raining and we need clothes now) I try and hang dry all our clothes.  With the temperature near 100, the clothes dry super fast outside.  And I save the cost of using the dryer.  So now the clothes are hanging, chicken breasts are thawing in the sink, corn is in the fridge for dinner and I am going to go take a little nap before hubby gets home.  The rest of my week is crazy as I will have both families every day, so I want to stock up on sleep while I can.  Hope you all are enjoying your Labor Day!

Eating In Weekly Update #1

Hubby and I are trying not to eat out this month.  We have fudged that rule a little but as a whole we are eating in.  That means lots of home cooked meals- like this chicken pot pie.
 I would love to hear about family favorite recipes!  Or ideas for semi-easy frugal meals for us to try.  We have basics that we use like taco night, soup night, etc.  If you have a good recipe I would love to try it out!

Monday Meals

I used to know all the good spots to get grocery deals.  I had a routine and I liked it.  Now I am trying to set up a new routine and discover new grocery stores.  In our little town we have a HEB (a grocery store of course).  While its not bad, I am not excited about it.  Yesterday while in the next town over, I stopped at their HEB and was pleasantly surprised.  I went in for some Parmesan cheese so I could make a homemade fettuccine alfredo sauce.  I was only missing the parm cheese, and its a main ingredient.  Wanting to save time and gas, I wanted to get enough food for the week.  We had a pack of 6 chicken breasts for this week that I wanted to base our meals off.  Other than the pasta I had no plans for the rest of the week.  I ended up buying
-3 red onions
-2 avocados
-2 green peppers
-2 jars pizza sauce
-2 big bags of cheese
-2 jars of pickles
-2 packages of pizza mix
-2 jars bread crumbs
-1 jar parm cheese
-1 jar maple syrup
-1 jar salsa
-1 bottle italian dressing
-3 bags of Texas shaped chips
-1 box pancake mix
-2 packages bake at home Ciabatta rolls
all for $45

We cooked up the chicken and shredded it all.  This coming week we will have taco salad with chicken.  Ill make a bbq chicken pizza or two.  We made fettuccine alfredo last night and yum oh yum!  Hubby said the only thing he didn't like was the gritty texture of the Parmesan cheese.  Next time I might try flakes instead of grated but they were way more expensive.  We have plenty left over for lunch and maybe a 3rd meal.