Money Saving Mom's "Becoming a Work At Home Mom" Series

Crystal at Money Saving Mom has Part 1 of her Work At Home Mom Series posted. Check out Becoming a Work-At-Home Mom: In the Beginning…(Part 1). While this post is mostly an intro, it does give you background on Crystal and her husband’s journey to multiple income streams. Crystal is a respected blogger and definite mentor in the on-line work at home world. I’m looking forward to learning more from her series. I also hope to share here at Finding My Way at Home, my own attempts to increase our household income using alternative means.

Links I Liked

Here are a few links to posts I've read over the past week that I've enjoyed. Hope you do as well:

Embrace Plan B at I’m an Organizing Junkie
Laura has some heartfelt words about battling perfectionism, stepping out of your comfort zone and being 'OK' with the current situation even when it goes against your plans.

Review: The Simple Living Guide at The Simple Dollar
Trent has a review of Janet Luhrs book "The Simple Living Guide" that has inspired me to check out this book further.

Guest Post: Maximize Your Freezer's Potential and Minimize Freezer Burn at Money Saving Mom
Amy from The Finer Things in Life writes a guest post on Money Saving Mom about how to package meals for the freezer. Great tips for those of you who try to do bulk cooking.

Feel free to leave comments on any great links you've found or links to your own posts that you think myself or my readers would enjoy.

Menu Plan Monday - October 19th

I never got the recipes posted last week that I intended to post – I’ll try to do that this week. The Rosemary Chicken and Sweet Potatoes is just soooo yummy!!! Shepherd’s Pie is one of my husbands favorites and it even got a thumbs up from little miss picky eater. The Pork Fried Rice I made on Sunday was very good – of course it’s one of my ‘throw together’ recipes so who knows if it will be as good next time.

On the menu at our house this week is:

Monday – Honey Baked Chicken, Rice, Salad

Tuesday – Grilled Sirloin, Baked Sweet Potato, Broccoli, Rolls

Wednesday – Pork Chops with Apple & Thyme, Pierogies, Green Beans

Thursday – Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (meat is leftover cubed steak in freezer and I’ll make my own tomato sauce), Salad, Homemade Bread

Friday – BBQ Pork Sandwiches (from leftover Pork Chops – the apple is a nice touch with the BBQ), Hot Dogs, Baked Beans, Coleslaw, Carrots & Celery

Saturday – Leftover Buffet/Breakfast for Supper

Sunday - I’d like to do some kind of roast this day – pork, beef, chicken or turkey. I’ll finalize which meat based on what I can get for the best price when I shop on Wednesday. My plan is to get some leftovers and lunchmeat out of whatever meat I cook on Sunday.

Hopefully my family will enjoy the meals I planned for this week. The Honey Baked Chicken has gone over well in the past and we haven’t had pork chops or pierogies in a while. I’m also planning to bake banana mini muffins for the lunchboxes and need to make up a batch of waffles for the freezer.

Need ideas for your menu? Check out the great links and recipes on the Menu Plan Monday post at orgjunkie.com.

I Don't Know How They Do It

3 of "My Boys" for the Day

Yesterday I babysat for the boys next door. After getting my daughter and the two oldest boys on the bus, my son and I went over for 8am to get the other two boys. The morning was spent between their house and my house, doing a little bit of cleaning up and baking while the boys played. At lunchtime one of the boys came home from kindergarten. I fed them lunch, put the baby down for a nap and took the other three outside in the front yard for about 20 minutes. My daughter and the oldest boy got home at 3:30. Everyone had a snack and we all went out for a while again. The older kids stayed out while I brought the baby and the two littlest boys inside.

We walked back to our house just before 5:30pm and I immediately got supper started. My husband was working late and then going to his dart club so I had all the parenting, feeding, homework, and bed readying duties myself. WOW was that tougher than I had realized. I’m used to having those responsibilities when he works late but never after working myself. I’ve been a stay at home mom since my daughter started school and have been able to work my schedule to accommodate everything else that needs to get done. (uh oh….I need to get ground beef out of the freezer this morning for dinner tonight….sorry brain wanderings there)

Last night made me very thankful that I am able to stay home right now and that most nights my husband is home to help with homework, bath and dinner cleanup. It also gave me a great deal of compassion for the women out there who work all day and then come home at night to do all the things that I’m able to do during the day. Let’s just say I’m a little bit in awe…..

Monthly Grocery Challenge

October – Stock the Pantry and Freezer for Under $400

I shopped at Aldi on Sunday and spent $67.82 – definitely a little bit more than I wanted but I also had my husband and the two kids with me. Shopping with DH always adds up to more – even more so than just shopping with the kids. Regardless, I’m pleased with my purchases and with the abundance in my freezer and pantry.

My Aldi list had a few staples that I had run out of like Baking Mix, Butter, Flour, Frozen Juice Concentrate, Minced Garlic, Shredded Cheeses and Canned Tomatoes. I also grabbed a few items for this week’s menu plan – Sweet Potatoes, Brocoli, Fresh Mushrooms and Biscuits. My usual buys at Aldi included Milk, Eggs, Bread, Bananas, Flour Tortillas and English Muffins. The kids got a treat of Corn Dogs and DH grabbed a bag of Pistachios.

My total grocery spending for the month comes in at $250.99 as of yesterday. That includes my stop at the convenience store for milk (and the piece of chocolate that DS begged for me when we were there). My game plan for the rest of the month is to buy only essentials and use the rest of my budget towards stockpiling with loss leaders and coupons. Look here to see my previous Monthly Grocery Challenge post

What’s your grocery budget look like this month? Are you able to work the sales and coupons to maximize your dollars? Have you gotten any great deals? Share your knowledge and accomplishments here!

Menu Plan Monday - October 11 - Busy Week!

It's Sunday here in our house but lately it seems that it's the better day for me to start our menu for the week. The Crockpot Ribs were very good but I didn't have boneless ribs which I think would have made the recipe better. We didn't eat all the ribs so I cut the meat off the bone and popped it into the freezer. The meat from them is the 'pork' in my Pork Fried Rice tonite.

It's going to be busy around here this coming week. Monday is a holiday and DD has a playdate, Tuesday DD has no school, Wednesday and Thursday I am babysitting for the neighbor boys, Friday evening we are having company, Saturday DD has a birthday party in the afternoon and then both kids are sleeping at the grandparents as my husband and I are going out. Sunday DD and I have a baby shower brunch to attend. I tried to plan my menu with things that would accomodate our busy schedule days as well as a few things we haven't had in a while. We're needing a little more variety around here. Menu planning with fussy kids is so difficult though!

Sunday - Pork Fried Rice (I wish I had a real recipe for this but it is usually a leftover/kitchen sink put together - sometimes better than others), Kids are having frozen corn dogs and leftover mac & cheese

Monday - Grilled Steak, Rice Pilaf, Salad

Tuesday - Baked Rosemary Chicken and Sweet Potatoes, Brocoli, Biscuits

Wednesday - Pasta with Brocoli & Sausage

Thursday - Shepherds Pie

Friday - Homemade Pizzas

Saturday - Eating out, Kids eating at grandparents

I will post a few recipes later today as I can't find the links for them. For more great menu and recipe ideas check out Menu Plan Monday hosted at orgjunkie.com.

Secrets of a Super Saver

Lisa Palmi, 20 year stay at home mom and fellow Dollar Stretcher Forumite, has recently published an informational download on her secrets to saving 60% - 90% off your grocery bill. As most moms know, the grocery bill is one of the largest expenses of a growing family. Lisa’s download details how to utilize coupons, rebates and store programs to maximize your grocery budget. I consider myself a relatively smart shopper and user of coupons, however there were quite a few new tricks I learned from Lisa’s publication. Some of the information Lisa teaches about are:

Coupon & Rebate Sources
Coupon “Stacking” Tips
Doubling Bar Code Secrets
How to Get Paid to Purchase Products
Store Sales Cycles by Month

My favorite part of Secrets of a Supersaver is that Lisa shares her methods for organizing coupons, planning shops and transactions and maximizing the value of your coupons.

The Secrets of a Supersaver download is being offered for $7.00 through the follwing link . Click Here to Purchase.

As part of a special promotion, anyone who purchases the download via the link above will receive 3 entries in a random drawing for a FREE COUPON ORGANIZER.

You may also receive 1 entry in the drawing by viewing Lisa's site via the link and then returning here to Finding My Way at Home and leaving feedback in the comments section of this post. This drawing is valid today through October 31st. Winner will be announced on November 1st.