Eating Good

I think I have done it. I think I have really let go of my issues of spending a lot of money on food! My father said something to me a few weeks ago and it really made me think. He said "We like to live good, and to live good, you need to EAT good." Now I have tried before many times to let go and just buy what I want in the store when it comes to food, and it always started out promising but ended with me going back to being a cheapo and cutting myself short to save a little money here and there. I have been for about a month now, just LETTING GO and freely buying whatever I want to eat at the store and whatever Anthony wants to eat too for that matter.

We are no longer eating Hamburger Helper, chicken 5 times a week, or frozen food. I am buying ingredients to make recipes that I want to try and have been wanting to try for a long while. Some new recipes that I have tried this month are: tomato pie (came out bad), stuffed bell peppers (this was pretty good), tuna noodle casserole (it was okay but I won't be making it again), and I also make egg foo young again and it didn't come out as well as the first time. I have on the menu for the upcoming weeks: turkey pot pie, chicken cordon bleu casserole, meatloaf, spaghetti and meatballs (we don't normally make this), lasagna, chicken shawarma, chicken enchiladas, nachos, egg salad sandwiches, pork chops, home made stroganoff and buffalo chicken sandwiches. All of these are things we never used to eat before because they were just too expensive to buy the ingredients for.

I used to try and budget our food bill to be around $120 a month so that would give us about $4 per meal allowance and that would not even be counting drinks or snacks or lunch items (which I never used to buy). On $4 a day for just two people there is not much that can be done. We ate a whole lot of boxed and frozen meals. A bunch of nights we ate chicken with a $1 side and a $1 can of veggies. After about 8 months of this I decided it was time to step it up. While I have been saving up money like I stated in a previous post, I am freely spending on food.

This month alone we have gone to the store many times, bought lots of food, lots of ingredients, lots of snacks, lots of lunch items, and when we run out of stuff.... we don't go the rest of the month without it, we just go to the store and get more! And you know what? I have been absolutely loving it! It feels great to open the fridge and see lots of food. Lots of different foods, and foods that I can just eat without having to cook. It is nice to know that I can eat something and not worry about the menu and ruining a set meal (because I can just go back to the store and buy more!). And it feels so good to have so much variety!

Are we spending a lot more money? YES, we have spent around $350 this month on food so far. Seems a little crazy but that's okay. I am okay with that. I am not broke, and I have tons of food to eat. Tons of snacks at home and at work and drinks in the fridge too. Having no food, little food, or little variety of food just made me feel so poor! And now I no longer feel that way, and its nice. REAL nice. I hope I can keep this up and not back down just to save a few bucks here and there because I am really enjoying eating well.

Slowing Down

You may have noticed my blog posts have been slowing down. (all 2 of you that read my blog lol). I am still into blogging but it just isn't a priority for me anymore. It was fun for a while but I sort of lost interest. I will keep posting blogs here and there but not nearly everyday like I did when I first started. I guess I just sorta ran outta things to talk about. And I felt kinda tied down by my blog, like "Oh no! what will I post about today!?" and I didn't want a simple hobby to turn into something I stress about. So I decided just to take it easy and post what I feel like, when I feel like it. After all this blog is for me, so I can go back in time and read about what I was up to. I am still documenting my current custody battle and once it is over I will be posting all those post about how it all went. So if you are into that kinda thing. Stay tuned! Hopefully it's over sooner than later. For now, enjoy reading blogs about my coloring, Etsy, Bears updates and eating, and my goals.

Hope everyone has a great week!

P.s. I got my coloring book in on Sat. and I am LOVING it! I think I am addicted and will def. be buying more of these!

I Bought My 1st Coloring Book!

So I went ahead and bought my first coloring book yesterday to begin my new hobby! I got a great deal and I figured it would not hurt to just go ahead and buy one book and try it out see how I like it before I jumped in and spent a lot of money.

This is the book I got:

Its a color by number by MindWare. I am so exited for it to arrive and to begin coloring! I will be posting pics of the finished products. I found this one on eBay for $7.50 with free shipping and they retail on the company's site for $7.95 + Shipping!

Here is a sample of what one of the pages look like. Half of the book has numbers and the other half does not. And it also includes 8 fold out pages that turn into posters.

Hope everyone has a great Friday!

Baby's First Foods Part 4

We started meats! Round 4!

Chicken, Banana, and Rice Cereal - He seemed real exited to try them out!

 Chicken - "Get this awful stuff outta my mouth!" He hated it, spit it out and whined and wanted nothing to do with it. I tried mixing it with the banana but as soon as he realized it was in there he spit it out. I did taste it to make sure I was not feeding him something awful and to me it tasted just like bland boiled chicken so I guess he just doesn't like it... 

 Chicken Noodle - This was one of those jars that are supposed to be meals, its chicken, noodles, and some veggies all mixed up. This was a stage 3 so it was chunky too, it had pieces of carrots and noodles in there. He loved this. So I guess he does like chicken just not alone. Or maybe he couldn't taste it because there was so much other stuff in there.

 Beef- Same reaction as to the chicken! This time he even cried. He HATED beef!

 Lasagna - Loved it! This was another one of those jars and it had beef in it and this was his first time tasting tomato as well. I am not sure what it is about meats alone that he does not like because he ate this all up like a champ! We are just gonna have to disguise his meats ;p

Goals: November

Here is how I did on October's Goals:

1. Stick to eating healthy challenge 100% with NO slip ups - Check Sorta, I changed this up, I did not stick to any diet because I decided that a diet is not necessarily what I need. I did however stick to tracking what I eat and when I get stomach issues. I have found zero links so far so I am thinking there is no one thing that I can just eliminate.
2. Finish organizing my bedroom and craft area - Fail, this was because I didn't buy what I need to finish it as I am trying to save up so I am not so upset about this fail.
3. Better organize Bear's closet - Fail
4. Scrub down the master bath - Fail - Gosh I really got to do this!
5. Purchase a new jacket and a Halloween costume for Bear if the funds are okay to do so - Check and because we decided not to go trick or treating we didnt need a costume for Bear
6. Take Bear to a pumpkin patch to have pics taken - Check
7. Figure out a way to stop being late to work everyday - Well since I no longer have a car I have been riding with my dad and I have not been late once since. Maybe the issue is Anthony not wanting to get out of bed.
8. Attempt to sell all the stuff that is in the "sell on eBay" bag in Bear's room - Fail
9. Start looking into Christmas Line and what I am going to be listing - Fail
10. List at least 4 new products on Etsy (not including the skeletons or turkeys) - Fail, and I didnt even list the turkeys either! 

October was a complete bust! I only accomplished 30% of my goals, that is the lowest percentage I have had since I started doing this about 6 months ago. :[ I really hope November is better!

Novembers Goals!

1. Give the bathroom a good scrub down
2. Ask my apartment complex for new blinds
3. Install the new curtains in my living room
4. Reach 175 sales on Etsy
5. Have saved up at least $700 by the end of the month
6. List all my holiday stuff on Etsy
7. Keep tracking what I eat
8. Organize Bear's closet
9. Sell stuff on eBay
10. Get a car

We shall see!