Declutter - part 4

The decluttering continues! Another area I have trouble with is my under the sink storage. It isn't a huge space and there are some obvious things that need to be there and I struggle with finding a balance between what needs to be there and what can go somewhere else.

Here is where I started. I keep my cleaning supplies, garbage bags, dish detergent, light bulbs, and other misc. household/cleaning tools.


I started by taking everything out and quickly discovered why organization is a great tool. Remind me not to buy sponges, dish detergent, or dishwasher soap in 2011 - I think I have plenty. These items have since moved to another storage location because I am not using them at the moment and will be able to keep track of them easier from now on.


Anyway, after taking everything out, I assessed what needed to be there, what should be stored in other locations (laundry stain remover belongs in the laundry room!) and what could be tossed.

I ended up with this:

Everything I use often is within easy reach and I don't have to dig around to find dishwasher soap, etc. Overall this system has been working very well for me!

Stay tuned for more organization related updates

Declutter - part 3

I haven't been posting much, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy! I have been on a serious organization/decluttering kick recently. Here are some updates on my progress.

I tackled the linen closet recently. Basically everything in here is used so I wasn't able to get rid of much but I was able to get it all looking a little more put together.

Here is the before shot:



The linen closet is actually across from the stairs so it is hard to get a picture of it. This was taken from the staircase with my arms reaching over the wall. Yes, these are the efforts I go through for you my faithful blog reader(s)!

So one thing I have always struggled with is the dreaded fitted sheet. I can't fold it. I generally make a decent effort to fold and then about halfway through I give up and sort of roll it into as small a package as possible. As evidenced by the photo, it looks messy and takes up more space than is necessary.

So step 1 in linen closet was to figure out how to fold that darn sheet. So I turned to google/you tube and found this. I agree with the blogger that it may be a little dramatic to claim that "one of the biggest challenges you will face in your life is how to fold a fitted sheet," however, it is definitely up there in annoying/difficult household tasks.

So I watched the video and went to work. And believe it or not, I actually folded the fitted sheets. It felt like a huge accomplishment. I actually am looking forward to doing laundry again so that I can fold another sheet (is that weird?)

Anyway, with that accomplishment under my belt I went to work on organization and purging. I got rid of 1 blanket and 1 hand towel and went through my toiletry stash to find some items to include in my donation to the food bank.

Here is the end result:


Much better! I am committing to keep this closet in order because it really makes me feel put together when I open that closet and see everything ordered so neatly. If nothing else is clean in my house, this closet will be tidy!!!

I wash my soap.

There, I've said it. I wash my soap bottles....regularly. Today as I was cleaning my kitchen (and consequently washing my soap bottle), it occurred to me that this could be considered odd. But seriously, I just hate that the soap gets some dried soap on the outside and gummy in the cap.

The good news is that you don't need to use soap to wash your soap bottles - the soap is already on the bottle.

Anyway, I felt the need to get that off my chest.

Declutter - part 2

Another area where I seem to have trouble staying organized is my pantry. I like to stockpile to reduce my grocery budget but sometimes it results in having a little too much stuff and thats when stuff goes bad and is wasted. Getting something inexpensively is no deal if it goes bad before you can eat it!

So as part of my decluttering/organizing, I decided to tackle the pantry.

Before













After - much better


Please someone remind me the next time I buy pasta that I basically have enough to support Italy at the moment. All pasta deals must be donated or ignored until I can get through what I have.









The second motivation for cleaning out my stockpile is that I adopted a family for Christmas and wanted to include some groceries with my gifts. So after going through everything, this is what I set aside for this family. How exciting is this? This is why stockpiling is a good idea! All of these items I got for free or significantly reduced and so it isn't a huge deal for me to share. YAY!

Declutter - part 1

I've been trying to simplify my life and get rid of clutter and things that I am just not using. I'd much rather have less stuff to clean and know that the stuff I got rid of is getting used by someone else. No need to keep stuff hanging around when others can use it!

In conjunction with this decluttering, I've also been focusing on cleaning and organizing - 2 of my favorite activities! Yep, I'm a dork.

But seriously, I just love a clean and organized house.

This weekend I took on the task of cleaning out my shed. Since I moved into my house in April, the shed has been a dumping ground of misc. items that I didn't want to deal with or didn't know what to do with. This had to end.

Exhibits 1 and 2: The mess


Notice how the shed is so FULL of stuff that you actually cannot step foot in it. Now, it isn't a huge space but there is no need for this mess.




So I bought some shelves and got to organizing.





Exhibits 3 and 4: The Result



SO much better! Notice how you can see the floor. This is where my bike goes. Now I don't have to keep it in the dining room. Bonus.

I'm back!

I'm sorry blog-world! I've been super busy this past month or so and it has interfered with my blogging. Rest assured, despite my lack of posts, I have continued with my decluttering, deal-seeking, and other blog-worthy activities.

Stay tuned for some posts in the coming weeks as I get back to my regularly scheduled life.

October Eating From the Pantry Challenge!

Welcome to October!! Where did September go? No, seriously - where did it go? Anyway, I have somehow accumulated A LOT of items in my freezer. So I've decided to spend some time cleaning out the stockpile this month.

My goal for this month will be to minimize grocery spending as much as possible. Purchasing perishables, milk, eggs, and necessities is allowed. Any leftover grocery money will go towards making an extra principal payment.

YAY! I will update you all at the end of the month.

Food Lion Deals

So I am typically not a Food Lion shopper because in general I haven't been impressed by their prices or their customer service.

However, Hip2Save alerted to me to a great deal on Kraft cheese so I decided to head over. Well...I still can't say much for the customer service but the deals may get me back there every once in a while. I ended up getting 5 packages of cheese and about 6 lbs of chicken for $11.80. The cheese ended up being $0.40/package and 2 packages of chicken were marked down to about $2.50/package. The third package was the regular deal this week which was buy 1 pound, get 1 pound free.

Unfortunately my cashier experience wasn't great. The cashier grumbled when I asked for a paper bag and scanned my coupon in wrong. He did not seem please when I asked him to check the coupon although he did correct the mistake. So - the deals were good, the customer service was so-so, but I wouldn't turn down a trip in the future.

Soap.com purchase

I got my soap.com purchase in the mail today! What a great surprise to have waiting at my door! I purchased the $20 voucher from Groupon for $10 and got 3 rolls of papertowels, 2 bottles of shampoo, 1 large bottle of dishwashing detergent, and 1 large bottle of hand soap.

All in all a pretty good deal. This soap should last me a VERY long time. The shampoo was something I needed anyway so it all worked out. I was overall impressed with soap.com. I was even able to use some coupons on the site. Definitely something to think about for future toiletry purchases.

I have a problem...

...whose name is Diet Coke.


Yes, I am addicted to Diet Coke (or more specifically, the caffeine in the Diet Coke). I try to limit myself but I still manage to get addicted to the stuff. IT IS A PROBLEM!

This week I've tried to quit cold turkey. This was a horrible idea because it resulted in 2 days of crazy headaches. I finally broke down and bought a package of those small 7.5 oz cans as a way to wean myself off.

Diet Coke you will not win!

Menu Plan, week of 9/20

Here is what I am eating this week. I've been in a cooking funk recently so I am hoping to reignite it by doing some meal planning.

Monday
L: Peanut butter sandwich
D: Pesto butter stuffed chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli

Tuesday
L: BBQ sandwich with steamed broccoli
D: Out

Wednesday
L: Pesto butter stuffed chicken with mashed potatoes
D: With Candice, TBD

Thursday
L: Turkey sandwich
D: Summer rolls with peanut sauce

Friday
L: Summer rolls with peanut sauce
D: Homemade cheese pizza

August Reading

I've been really slacking in my reading recently so I though I'd start reporting on it so that I can keep motivated! Also, I finally got a library card in my new city so that is helping a lot with the motivation!

This is what I read this month:

Foreign Body by Robin Cook.
I was shocked to discover a Robin Cook book that I hadn't read before! Unfortunately, this was not one of my favorites. It was a good story but I felt like the mystery was revealed to the reader too early. I like solving the mystery with the main character but in this case I knew what the main character didn't.


One True Love by Lora Copeland
Ok so this was an instance of my grabbing something at the library because the author has written a number of books. I do this every once in a while as a way to discover new authors, etc. In this case, I will probably not be reading anything else by this author. Worth a shot though.


City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Soooo - this was a recommendation from my cousin and I am a little bit obsessed with this series. It is a young adult series and is just a great read. It reminds me a little bit of the Harry Potter series in that it involves teens with special abilities who are battling some sort of evil. Anyway - definitely recommended.


City of Ashes by Cassandra
This is the second in the series and I am still loving it.


The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by MaryAnn Shaffer and Annie Barrows
I read this on a recommendation from a friend and it was a great read - cute story, well written, and a lot of fun. The only thing I wasn't a fan of is the lack of chapters :)

A book of Ray Bradbury short stories that I can't remember the name of... But the stories were really good!

I feel like there was one more book too...but I can't remember what it was. Overall a good month for reading though :)

Messy

Recently I've been having a little trouble keeping the clutter under control. Now a lot of this is because I've been out of town and otherwise running around like a crazy person but that is no excuse for the disaster that my house is quickly becoming.

As an example, here is my dining room table (which tends to be a catch all due to its location next to the front door).

In addition to the somewhat normal things (purse, mail, etc) you can see that a lot of not so normal stuff has been making an appearance (bug spray, garlic, box, etc).


Now, there isn't a cocker spaniel on the table but the general clutter is basically getting out of control. Needless to say, decluttering is high on my priority list.

My day...

It has come to my attention that my faithful blog reading population has been disappointed by my recent lack of posts.

Well faithful blog reading population, there is a reason for this! I have absolutely nothing vaguely interesting to report on. I know, I know, it is difficult to believe. But it is true. And I can prove it.

Welcome to my day.

It started by doing laundry. I did not take a picture of this because I am pretty sure everyone knows what laundry looks like.

Then I decided to run some errands. It all started with the post office. I needed to go to the post office because I ran out of stamps. I had two envelopes to mail. One was my electric bill so as you might imagine, it was crucial that I secure the necessary postage. Luckily, the post office had a very good supply of stamps and I mailed both envelopes. Whew, crisis averted. I think the post office looks like the building in Back to the Future.

Then I went to the library because I had to return a library book. I enjoyed the book immensely (will update on the book on a later post) and so while I was at the library I checked out the second book in the series. Very exciting. Bad news is that I forgot my library card. Whoops! So I had to wait in line for them to manually look me up in the system.

Then I went to GCF to drop off a small bag of household goods. I am trying to clear out some unused items but I haven't been overly committed to it yet. It felt good to get those few items out of the house though so hopefully that will give me some motivation.



Finally, when I got home I went to get the mail. Sadly, I only had 1 piece of junk mail. Bummer. This is what my mailbox looks like.









So hopefully you have not yet fallen asleep. I realize that my life is pretty uncontrollably exciting. It is ok to be jealous. :)

Freezer Cooking: Finished!

So, I haven't quite gotten to everything on my list but I'm calling it quits for this weekend. I'm pooped and I think my kitchen deserves a little break!

I ended up making the BBQ chicken which I am pretty excited about. I love this stuff! I store it in 1 cup portions just like the rest of the shredded chicken. Between all this shredded chicken I have enough for about 16 meals - not counting the Italian marinated chicken strips I made! So I should be all set for the month.
I also made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins which I haven't had in a few months so I am definitely looking forward to these.

I didn't make the pretzels but I might end up making them next weekend. I think these would be a fun snack for work so I'd like to give them a shot.

So in total I have in the freezer as a result of this weekend:
30 pumpkin chocolate chip muffins
1 loaf banana bread split into thirds
6 chocolate chip pancakes
10 regular pancakes
8 meals worth of plain shredded chicken
8 meals worth of BBQ chicken
a bunch of italian marinated chicken - definitely a few meals worth depending on what I am eating.
a ton of peanut sauce - this should last 2-3 months
7 servings of cheese pizza - probably 2 months worth
Brownies
Granola Bars

The cool thing is - I did a lot of work this weekend but I split it up enough that I didn't feel overwhelmed!

Freezer Cooking Day 2: Morning Update

Well the morning is off to a great start! After enjoying some much needed "lounging" this morning, I got right back into the freezer cooking and made a decent dent in my remaining list.

This morning I made a pan of brownies (and yes there is a piece missing - gotta sample it!) and 4 personal sized pizzas. The 4 pizzas should be 8 meals for me (well 7, since I ate half of one for lunch) and fear not - these should last me more than 1 month. No need to eat pizza more than once per week!Here are 2 of my pizzas on my messy counter. I really should take a picture of the before/after kitchen disaster that arises during freezer cooking. It is a whole separate job to clean up! My dishwasher is definitely getting a workout this weekend.

I am taking a cooking break to spend time with some friends but I hope to finish off the list this evening. I think this is totally doable since I really don't have too much left to do!

BBQ Chicken (?)
Muffins (flavor TBD)
Pizza (4 personal size)
Some sort of dessert...maybe brownies?
Homemade Soft Pretzels
Chop peppers for freezer

Freezer Cooking Update 2

I think I am done for the day. I am very pleased with what I've accomplished and I don't think it is unreasonable to get everything else done tomorrow.

While waiting for the banana bread to finish cooking I started with some cleaning - laundry, vacuuming, etc and got a bit of cleaning done too. Now I am pooped and ready to have some fun for the rest of the day!

Here is my beautiful loaf of banana bread. The hardest thing with banana bread is not eating it all before it makes it to the freezer!

I also chopped some onions in the food processor. I love onions but I am EXTREMELY sensitive to them. I can't even be in the kitchen if someone else is chopping them. Anyway, so I like to have a bag full of chopped onions on hand so that I don't have to torture myself too often. Even with the food processor I had tears running down my face!


And here is the lovely bag of chopped onions. This should lase me for a while.

So I am pretty pleased with what I was able to cross off the list. I think tomorrow is going to be another productive day!

Goals for Freezer Cooking Day 2:
BBQ Chicken (?)
Muffins (flavor TBD)
Pizza (4 personal size)
Some sort of dessert...maybe brownies?
Homemade Soft Pretzels
Chop peppers for freezer

Freezer Cooking Update 1

So far freezer cooking has been going very well. I am pretty pleased with what I've managed to accomplish this morning!

You can see My Plan and links to online recipes here. Oh and for reference purposes - here is what my freezer looked like before - not totally empty but there is plenty of space for some goodies!Ok s0 what have I accomplished so far?!?!

Well I cheated a little bit and got a head start last night since I was just hanging around the house. I baked some chicken breasts to shred for salads, summer, rolls, and other misc. meals and shredded them up. I also made granola bars which I am very pleased with. I've tried other granola bar recipes in the past and was never really satisfied with the end result - this recipe is definitely a keeper.

Here is the chicken all shredded up. I really find it useful to have already cooked chicken on hand. I seasoned it with some salt, pepper, and italian seasoning so it is pretty simple and goes with pretty much anything.
I freeze my chicken in 1 cup portion in these snack sized bags. These bags probably aren't great for long-term storage, but I find that they work well for me. I usually manage to use it up pretty quickly. One bag works out to about 2 meals worth for me depending on what I am eating.


On to the granola bars. As I said, I am really impressed with this recipe. I made chocolate chip bars this time since I had plenty of chocolate chips around. I probably won't use so much cinnamon next time - I found it had a little too much for my taste. Also, I thought 1 cup of butter was a little much so I only used half. I didn't change anything else and I don't think it mattered.

I individually wrapped the bars in aluminum foil and stuck them all in a large freezer bag. The recipe made 18 god sized bars.

This morning I started with pancakes (plain and a few chocolate chip), italian marinated chicken, peanut sauce, and banana bread.

Here are some chocolate chip pancakes cooking on the stove. I have been in such a pancake mood recently! These should make for a few good breakfasts and possibly even a 'breakfast for dinner!"
Here is the batch of pancakes that I made. I froze them in 2 freezer bags - one for chocolate chip and one for plain.

The Thai peanut sauce has got to be one of my favorite recent recipe discoveries. This sauce goes great with Summer Rolls and I like it on chicken and salad too. It is super easy to make too which always helps. I freeze the sauce in ice cube trays and then pop all the ice cubes into a freezer bag once they are solid. I find that 1 cube is just enough for me.

I didn't take a picture of the Italian Marinated Chicken because - well it looked like a plate full of chicken. The banana bread is in the oven as I type this so I might include a picture of the finished product on my next update. I'll probably try to get a little bit more done today and then save the rest for tomorrow.

So - lets cross some things off that list!!

Plain shredded chicken
Italian marinated chicken strips
BBQ Chicken (?)
Pancakes
Muffins (flavor TBD)
Banana Bread
Peanut Sauce - frozen in ice cube tray
Pizza (4 personal size)
Some sort of dessert...maybe brownies?
Chewy Granola Bars
Homemade Soft Pretzels
Chop onions for freezer
Chop peppers for freezer

Freezer Cooking! The Plan!

Wow, I am super excited to actually be able to participate in freezer cooking at the same time as everyone else! I have a very open weekend so I am hoping to accomplish a lot. I've been doing a good job of eating what I've had stored in the freezer from earlier freezer cooking adventures so I think it is about time to replenish the supply!

Here is what I hope to make:
Plain shredded chicken
Italian marinated chicken strips
BBQ Chicken (?)
Pancakes
Muffins (flavor TBD)
Banana Bread
Peanut Sauce - frozen in ice cube tray
Pizza (4 personal size)
Some sort of dessert...maybe brownies?
Chewy Granola Bars
Homemade Soft Pretzels
Chop onions for freezer
Chop peppers for freezer

I'm still trying to put my thoughts together but this is the plan. This with my weekly CSA delivery of fresh fruits and veggies should take care of most of my food needs for the month!!

July Financial Update

July ended up being a pretty good month. I made some progress on my retirement goals but that is basically thanks to the market changes. I'll take it though! :) I didn't do great on my gas budget because of all the traveling and houseguests this month, but I consider that well worth going over a bit. Other than that, pretty standard month. I'm hoping to make some good progress in August.

Dave Ramsey style goals
1. Pay off all debt other than my mortgage. Done!
2. Fully fund an emergency fund by the end of December 2010 - Done!

Retirement
3. Achieve 100% of goal for retirement savings by the time I turn 30. Basically I think it would be cool to achieve a certain number by the time I am 30. Right now I am at 80% of this goal. -
Right now I am looking at about 90% of goal (started month at 84%).

However, given market fluctuation can be unpredictable, I have secondary goals.
a. Open Roth IRA account - Haven't opened one yet
b. Max out this account for 2010. This may be ambitious but we'll see how far I get.
c. Contribute 2% more per month to 401K. Right now I am contributing the maximum employer match but I can be doing better. - Haven't started this yet.

Some other misc. goals I'd like to make progress on, but may end up being a little ambitious for this year - definitely possible in 2011 though!
4. Start making an extra principal payment per month before the end of 2010 - Not yet
5. Start contributing the equivalent of a car payment per month into a savings account by the end of 2010. My vehicle is 7 years old and shows no sign of stopping but eventually it will need to be replaced and I would like to pay for it with cash. - Started!

Target Deals!

Thanks to tips on Hip2Save and MoneySavingMom, I found out about some crazy good deals at Target.

Anyway, as I've mentioned I have a very limited grocery budget for the rest of the month since I've been hosting so many wonderful visitors. So, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to stretch the grocery bucks a little further.

So, I ended up with:
2 SoBe Waters
2 8-packs of Juicy Juice
2 boxes of Nature Valley Granola Bars
2 packages of pens
1 candy bar (couldn't resist!)

The waters were free, the juice was $1.39 each (super excited because I love this juice), the granola bars were $0.89 per box, the pens were free, and the candy bar was $0.29.

So, the pre-coupon total was $16.92 and I ended up spending $4.85 plus tax. Not bad and definitely a way to streeeeeeetch those dollars!

Tuesday To-Do

The to-do lists continue! This will be my last to-do list of the week because I'll be out of town. I am hoping to come back to a nice clean house though - so this stuff needs to get done. Then, next week I will have 4 days to take care of some things before my cousins get here!

Tuesday to-do:
Exercise - severe rain convinced me to stay home :)
Finish Fridge (wipe out drawers and shelves)
Bathrooms - they could use a good cleaning
Vacuum upstairs
Wipe down living room furniture
Dust
I'm sure there will be more...

To-do List

I just came back from a weekend away and I'm looking at another few days away followed by company. Ahhh! So much fun but I am not getting all my cleaning done! My house needs a good thorough cleaning before my cousins arrive. I am going to try to post my to-do lists as I get my house back in order. It is seriously a disaster right now. I might be brave enough to post pictures but we will see.

So - my Monday To-Do list. Most of my Monday items are catch-up items that I should have done this weekend.

- Clean out fridge (toss old food, wipe down shelves, drawers)
- Take out Garbage
- Vacuum downstairs
- Empty dishwasher
- Put away Laundry
- Wash guest sheets and make bed
- Put away outside table - decided this can stay
- Figure out new license plate
- Clean off dining room table disaster
- Exercise

So, that should keep me busy this evening!

CVS deals!

Man have I been loving CVS recently!! I had a bunch of ECBs that were going to expire this weekend so I had to use them up. Nothing really jumped out at me as far as ECB deals go but I was able to score some deals on general food and household goodies.


So I ended up with 1 box of South Beach Bars (on sale for 2.50 plus $1/1 coupon), 2 boxes of pop tarts (on sale for $4 for both plus $1/2 coupon), gatorade (on sale for $0.77 each), razors (on sale for $2.99), Stayfree ($3.79 each plus BOGO coupon), Tic Tacs (needed some filler).

I also had a coupon for $4/$20 and $9.98 in ECBs.

My total OOP ended up at $1.97 (most of this was tax!) and I saved $29.57 from the non-sale prices.

Not too bad!!! I'm down to $13 for my grocery budget but this was well worth the $2!

Grocery goals/mini-pantry challenge

So, I've had a lot of house guests this month which has been awesome! The rest of the month is looking similarly busy. I managed to eat up most of my grocery budget for July already - and we are only halfway through the month!

Luckily, I have a pretty decent stockpile plus an infusion of fresh fruits and veggies every week from my CSA, so I should be fine to make it through the rest of the month. I do have some cousins coming to visit at the end of the month and I am probably going to have to pick up some goodies for their visit, but other than that I see no immediate needs.

In fact, I've even got some freezer meals left over from June that I haven't managed to eat yet. So I think this is the perfect time to do some cleaning out and making room.

Currently in the freezer I have:
4 cooked pork chops
1 bag cooked BBQ chicken
1/2 bag cooked regular chicken
1/2 lb Taco meat
1 meal Chicken Curry
1/2 pan Corn bread
1 pack hot dogs
1 loaf bread
4 hamburger rolls
1 hot dog roll
1 package deli flats
2 boxes waffles
Flour tortillas
A few packages of cheese
1 packaged of 3 uncooked chicken breasts

I'm actually surprised by how much I have - I can definitely make it through the next few weeks on the $15 I have left in my budget!

Wascally Wabbits!

So, we've had a casualty. A rabbit got to my tomato planet this morning. By the time I saw him the plant was a goner so instead of chasing him off right away, I took his picture. At that point he might as well have enjoyed his meal!

Guess I won't be growing any more tomatoes this summer!

June Financial Update

Ok - I finally got around to tallying up my June numbers. All in all I did pretty well in June despite needing a new timing belt for my car.

Dave Ramsey style goals
1. Pay off all debt other than my mortgage. Wahoo!
2. Fully fund an emergency fund by the end of December 2010 - Started the month at 65% of goal, ended at 100%!

Retirement
3. Achieve 100% of goal for retirement savings by the time I turn 30. Basically I think it would be cool to achieve a certain number by the time I am 30. Right now I am at 80% of this goal. -
Right now I am looking at about 84% of goal (started month at 82%).

However, given market fluctuation can be unpredictable, I have secondary goals.
a. Open Roth IRA account - Haven't opened one yet
b. Max out this account for 2010. This may be ambitious but we'll see how far I get.
c. Contribute 2% more per month to 401K. Right now I am contributing the maximum employer match but I can be doing better. - Haven't started this yet.

Some other misc. goals I'd like to make progress on, but may end up being a little ambitious for this year - definitely possible in 2011 though!
4. Start making an extra principal payment per month before the end of 2010 - Not yet
5. Start contributing the equivalent of a car payment per month into a savings account by the end of 2010. My vehicle is 7 years old and shows no sign of stopping but eventually it will need to be replaced and I would like to pay for it with cash. - I started contributing money towards the purchase of a new to me car. I am hoping I won't need anything for the next few years so that I can pay in cash.

ReStore Deals!

As I've mentioned previously, I love the ReStore. If you are patient and willing to look around, there are some crazy good deals to be had.

I had another successful visit this past weekend. I scored a Thomasville dresser with mirror, end table, and chest of drawers. Condition wise, it is probably a very good on a scale from poor to excellent. I cannot put into words how excited I am about these pieces. As an adult I haven't had a set of furniture so it is pretty exciting to finally have a set I love. And even better than it didn't cost too much!
So here it is!
The end table:
The dresser. The flash made it look a little lighter than it really is.


The dresser and mirror. I need some help putting the mirror onto the dresser. It is too heavy for just one person!

Next on the agenda is to find headboards for the master bedroom and the guest room and also a desk.

Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce

Summer Rolls with a slightly spicy peanut sauce is my new favorite way to enjoy salad. They are ridiculously easy to make, look pretty, and taste great. Here is how you make them.
Start out by preparing whatever you are going to put in the rolls. I chose green and red peppers, carrots, chicken, rice noodles, and lettuce.

Next, soak the rice paper for about 10 seconds so that it becomes somewhat pliable. Then pile up the goodies onto one side of the paper.

Finally you roll the rolls up just like a burrito. Tonight I had mine with some leftover pasta salad and this Thai Peanut Sauce recipe (it is amazing!)

Grocery deals!

I was in the mood for some bargain shopping tonight so I grabbed my coupons, consulted Hip2Save and Southern Savers and headed to Target and Harris Teeter.
I think I did pretty well for a spur of the moment shopping trip!
First up is Target:

I got:
2 packages of Eggo Waffles
2 BBQ Sauces
1 Salad Dressing
1 Brownie Mix

Total OOP: $5.36
Total Savings: $5.72
Best deals - the BBQ sauce was $0.25 each and the salad dressing was $0.76. I didn't have a coupon for the brownie mix but it was regularly priced at $0.77 - SCORE!

Next up was Harris Teeter:
I got:
1 Jar of Skippy Natural Peanut Butter
2 Taco Seasoning
1 Chex MIx
1 Coconut Milk

Total OOP: $4.23
Total Savings: $5.80
Best deals - the taco seasoning was $0.40 each and the chex mix was $0.29

So my grand total was $9.59 for a decent amount of stuff! Not too shabby!

More CVS deals!

I have been having such good luck at CVS recently. I thought my deal on deodorant couldn't be beat but this might be coming close.

I ended up with 2 Gillette body washes, 2 right guard deodorants, 1 Gillette proglide razor (which for some reason comes with a battery...), 1 box of pop tarts, and 1 package of wafer cookies.

Here is how it worked out:

The poptarts and cookies were just filler. The cookies were $1 and the poptarts were on sale for $1.67.

The deodorants were $4.49 each regularly but they were BOGO and I had a $3/2 coupon making them $1.49 for both.

The body washes were on sale for $4 each with a $4 ECB (limit 2). I had a BOGO coupon making them $4 for both not counting the ECBs.

The razor was on sale for $9.97 with a $5 ECB. I also had a coupon for $4/1.

Finally I had a coupon for $5/$25 that I got in my email and a $5 ECB from my earlier CVS trip.

So the grand total out of pocket was $5.57 including tax. AND I GOT BACK $13 in ECBs.

Interestingly, I've managed to score deals on a number of 'man products' and yet I have no actual man living in my house. Now, a number of those products I have no problem using on my own but I'm not really in need of that much man body wash so I think I am going to be able to make a nice donation to a local shelter. All in all, I consider it a very successful CVS mission :)

Beautiful Sunset!

One thing I like about living in "the south" is the fact that we have thunderstorms just about every night. While fun on their own, it just gets better when they are followed by a beautiful sky.

Meal Plan, week of 6/14

Here is my plan for the week - it is going to be a busy one!

Breakfasts: Zucchini bread, oatmeal
Snacks: String cheese, brownies, misc veggies

Monday
Lunch: Pork chop, corn bread, steamed veggies
Dinner: Peanut butter sandwich on way to dance class

Tuesday
Lunch: Pork chop, corn bread, steamed veggie
Dinner: My week for hosting Candice! Pulled chicken sandwiches, corn on the cob

Wednesday
Lunch: Pork Chop, corn bread, veggies
Dinner: BBQ Chicken sandwich, corn on the cob

Thursday
Lunch: TBD based on what comes in CSA box
Dinner: Pizza from the freezer as I PACK!

Friday
GO ON VACATION

Mini Freezer Cooking

The rest of my month is going to be pretty busy so I thought I'd help myself out by doing a little freezer cooking so that I won't be tempted to grab take out.
This is what I ended up with:

Slow cooker BBQ Chicken (just as a reference, I use half the chicken but same proportion of liquid) This is the before picture. I forgot to take a picture of the shredded chicken.


Cornbread (From a box - Trader Joe's)


Pork Chops marinated in Italian Dressing (cut in half so they cover more meals). There are 2 missing from the pan because I ate one for dinner (with cornbread and steamed broccoli and cauliflower) and another is packed for lunch tomorrow.


Brownies from scratch! I was in the mood for brownies but I was without a baking mix so I tried this recipe. I am pretty impressed. I think I cooked it a little longer than I would have preferred but overall it had a great flavor.

Oops - someone took out a slice!

I also made 2 loaves of zucchini bread at the end of last week but I didn't take a picture of it.

So not bad for very little work. I marinated the pork chops all day while I was busy sitting at the car dealership. The BBQ sauce mixes up really fast and then it was just a matter of chopping an onion and throwing it all in the crock pot for a few hours. While that was going I mixed up the cornbread and baked it at the same time as the pork. Finally, I mixed up the brownie mix and baked that while enjoying my dinner! Easy! I think I am getting the hang of this freezer cooking business!