Menu plan, week of 1/31/11

The theme of my meals this week will be "veggies." As you may remember, I am trying to fight the fat that has recently appeared in the form of multiple lbs. So, healthy eating rules this week!

Breakfasts: Oatmeal, fruit, cereal
Lunches: Salads with chicken, homemade bread, leftovers
Dinners: Baked chicken, steamed veggies, salads
Snacks: Pudding made with skim milk, pirate booty.

If nothing else, I am thinking I should be feeling a lot better after this week!

2011 Personal Development Goals: January

One month of 2011 is already behind us! How is it possible for time to go so quickly?

So how did I do this month?

2011 Personal Development Goals:
- Read at least 3 books per month. Accomplished this month!

Percy Jackson and The Olympians Book 1-4
Book 1: The Lightning Thief
Book 2: The Sea of Monsters
Book 3: The Titan's Curse
Book 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth

These books were very entertaining. They are children's books so they are very easy reads but I really enjoyed the story. Now I just need to wait for the library to have the next few available!!


- Try 1 new recipe per month. Huge success here.

Chicken and Dumplings
It was delicious, what can I say?!?! This will definitely be working its way into my meal rotations!


- Attempt 6 "Do it yourself" projects. Half success.
I replaced a towel rack in my master bathroom. But I had done something like this before so I am not sure if this counts. I will count it as half a do it yourself project.

- Volunteer somewhere at least once per month. Fail.
I didn't do any volunteer work this month. But that just means I need to step it up for the remaining 11 months!!

All in all, I'd say this month was a success in terms of my personal goals!

Why I need a schedule

Prepare yourself blogging world, I am about to reveal something to you - my messy house! No judging here folks - this is an extreme example and is not representative of what my house normally looks like.

Anyway, this is why I need a schedule. When I get off my schedule bad things happen. I don't make my bed, laundry piles up, and apparently I just randomly throw things on the floor.

Exhibit 1: My bedroom - view from the door. Obviously this is a disaster.


Here is the opposite view:

Seriously, I must have just randomly thrown pillows around because they are not generally on the floor, even when I am asleep!

The good news is, even when something looks as bad as this mess, it only takes about 5 minutes to put it all back together.



And all is well in the world again.

Seriously though, this is why I need a schedule. When I have a set of goals I need to accomplish in a day, I tend to be more organized overall. I do not write "make bed" as a goal each day but I find that I make my bed automatically on days where I know I have a lot of things to cross off my to-do list whereas things tend to be more of a mess on days where I have no set plan. Moral of the story - having a schedule works for me. It might not be for everyone but it sure makes a difference in my life!

Declutter motivation

I stumbled upon this quote recently by William Morris:

"If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

First off I have no idea who William Morris is and I believe that in order to fully appreciate a quote you need to understand a little bit about the person who spoke it.

Best I can tell, William Morris was an artist and a poet in the 1800's. He is credited with being a central figure in the Arts and Crafts movement which advocated the use of traditional craftsmanship. Pretty interesting stuff.

Another quote: "The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life."

Both these quotes got me thinking about the decluttering I have been doing and what else I could be doing to live a life that is both minimal and enjoyable. Why would I keep something in my house that is neither useful nor beautiful? What purpose are these items serving other than to create clutter and give me something else to clean. As we work on decluttering our lives I think it is important to look at every item in our homes and ask ourselves what purpose the item is serving.

Is it useful?
Is it useful to me right now or in the near future?
Is it beautiful?
Do I enjoy having it in my home?

I aim to have pretty much everything in my home to be useful (currently or in the near future) or beautiful.

His second quote is also interesting. "The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life."

This is so true! When I lose sight of the details of daily life my schedule gets messed up, I become more disorganized, I don't eat as healthfully as I would like, I waste more time, and in general I don't enjoy life as much as I do when I am on top of everything.

While it is difficult to manage sometimes, I think it is important that we all remember how important all the small details are in maintaining a healthy and happy home.

So there is some food for thought on this Friday evening!

Another quick kitchen project

Want a quick and inexpensive was to improve the look of your kitchen? Replace that plastic soap bottle!

Here is my sink with the soap bottle. It doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look polished either.

And here is my sink after. My appliances are all stainless so this new soap container matches nicely.

It isn't a huge change, but it gives a more finished look. It will look even better once I replace the kitchen faucet with something nicer!

Wordless Wednesday

Happiest place on Earth!

2011 Goals: Financial

I know I have been keeping you all in suspense with my financial goals. I've already mentioned my personal goals and my home remodeling goals but it takes some $$ to get it all done, right?

Without further ado, here are my 2011 Financial Goals.

- Pay cash for all home remodeling goals (so far off to a great start)
- Make an extra principal payment each month
- Pay off 5% of my mortgage this year. Last year I paid off 1.8%. This is ambitious but I like a challenge.
- Up my retirement savings by maxing out my Roth IRA
- Continue saving for a new car
- Pay for all travel in cash
- Pay for Christmas gifts in cash

Maybe some other things will pop up as time goes on, but for now that is what I am shooting for!!!

Menu plan, week of 1/23/11

This is a bit of a weird week for me because my job has me occupied for a few days. So, my meals are mostly taken care of. I'll be taking some convenience foods with me (homemade, of course!) and will probably be working on leftovers for the rest of the week.

All in all, it will be a nice break from cooking :)

My Coke Rewards

I have to thank Jack's mom for introducing me to MyCoke Rewards. It is possible that I have a slight Diet Coke addiction. Possibly.

Ok it is more than possible. I definitely have a Diet Coke addiction. The good news is that while I am enjoying my cool and refreshing beverage, I can also be earning points towards prizes. I like points. I definitely like points that lead to prizes. It is win win!

I am kicking myself for not investigating this possibility sooner. I mean, think of all the points I just threw away!!!

What is great about these points is that is reinforces an important lesson - every little bit matters. Each bottle cap is only 3 points. That doesn't seem like much in the grand scheme of things but when you start adding them up, well things start to matter.

The same goes for lots of other things. A coupon for $0.50 off of dish soap doesn't seem like a big deal, and at that moment it probably isn't. However, over the long run all those quarters start adding up. Before you know if you have dollars saved and then even hundreds of dollars saved. It is amazing what a few coins can turn into over the course of a year!

Homemade Granola Bars

I absolutely LOVE my homemade granola bars. I tried out a lot of recipes before finally finding this one. This one is a KEEPER!

This is the recipe I start with. It is pretty good just like that - but I like to change it up a little.

1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup softened peanut butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups oatmeal
1 cup rice krispie cereal (or in my case, Krispy Rice!)
Flour, wheat germ, wheat bran, flax meal, etc to equal 1/2 cup.
1 teaspoon baking soda
Mixins. I like chocolate chips but I've also tried nuts and raisins. You can basically put whatever you want in there!


So, step 1: Mix all the wet ingredients together. It makes an amazing smelling paste!

Step 2: Mix all the dry ingredients together:

Step 3: Mix everything together. This should give you a nice arm workout because this mixture is STICKY!!!


Step 4: Press into baking sheet and bake at 325* for about 20-25 minutes or until the edges are nice and brown.



Step 5: Slice into granola bar sized pieces and wrap in aluminum foil. I freeze mine and they come out just fine. I take one out of the freezer at night and by the morning it is ready to be packed in my lunch!

CVS Trip

I made a quick trip to CVS this week to use up some ECBs that were expiring. I ended up getting some toothpaste and dish soap for FREE plus I walked away with $3.50 in ECBs. Not bad at all.

You may remember that I specifically stated last month that I don't need anymore dish soap. Whoops - well it was free so whatever! I may end up donating it somewhere because I certainly won't be using it anytime in the near future.

Fight the Fat

Image by Microsoft

Faithful blog reader(s), I have unacceptable news. I recently weighed myself and found that I have gained some lbs. Yes, multiple lbs.

And seeing as how I recently spent the weekend in the Happiest Place on Earth where the primary menu items are pizza, chicken fingers, and ice cream, I am guessing that the number of lbs is even more than it was last time I checked.

Something needs to be done about this!

Quick Frugal Tip

Since I live by myself I tend to generate only a small amount of garbage each week. At most, I might fill up 1 regular sized kitchen bag.

This presents a problem when it comes to perishable garbage like chicken trimmings and produce items. If I throw it in a partially full garbage bag, I will probably take the garbage out before the bag is full. This is wasteful and results in my using more garbage bags than I need to.

So what do I do?

I freeze my perishable garbage. Yep, yep I do.

I keep a plastic bag on the bottom shelf of my freezer and fill it up with 'smelly garbage.' When my garbage bag is ready to be taken out, I take the bag out of the freezer and toss it. No mess and no smell!

Quick Declutter project

I've been working a lot on decluttering and getting rid of the random messes in my house. One thing I've noticed is that my fridge area can tend to look cluttered , even if there isn't a ton of 'stuff' there.

I do tend to put a ton of stuff on the fridge - pictures, notes, phone numbers, etc. and for some reason I have a habit of putting my cereal on top of the fridge. The basket with the lunch bag doesn't belong up there but I stashed it there at some point and never got around to taking it down.

To go along with my decluttering theme, I gave my fridge a quick makeover.


I put the cereal boxes in the pantry (where they belong!!) and put the basket and lunch bag in their proper places as well. For the magnet clutter - I got rid of some of the older pictures and moved a lot of the magnets to the side between the fridge and the wall where I can keep them until they are needed. Some of the fridge stuff is necessary/wanted but overall I think this 5-minute makeover made a huge difference!

Now I just need to keep it that way!

Menu plan, week of 1/17/11

I am still eating from the pantry so this week will focus on getting through some more pantry items! I am going to need to replenish the produce a bit to get through this week!

Dinners:
Pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs from the freezer

Lunches:
Peanut butter sandwiches
Leftovers

Breakfasts:
Muffins
Cereal

Snacks:
Fig Newtons
Fruit
Veggies

Mickey Mouse

We now interrupt this blog to bring you some exciting news. I am currently in the happiest place on earth. You may experience a slight delay in blog programming due to this development.

Please be patient. We will be back to your regularly scheduled blog as soon as possible.

New Recipe: Chicken and Dumplings

As you may remember, one of my 2011 goals is to try new recipes on a more regular basis. In the spirit of this, I made Chicken and Dumplings tonight. Holy deliciousness Batman! This may not be a diet friendly meal (there is a bit of butter in this pan) but it is definitely delicious!

I think you could probably cut out some of the butter without impacting the outcome too much.

Anyway, this will definitely be going into my rotation of go-to recipes.

Home Remodeling: Master Bathroom Tour

Since I've 'finished' my master bathroom (it is finished for now, I would like to replace the light fixture at some point but that is not a 2011 goal), I wanted to give my faithful reader(s) a tour of the finished product!

So this is the view as you stand in the door from the master bedroom. I have a circle theme going on which is why I chose fixtures that also have a circular element.


Standing next to the toilet you can see the shower curtain and other corner. There really isn't anything exciting over here but I wanted to highlight more of the circle theme.

Finally this is the view of the other side of the door. You can see the hand towel rack that I replaced and the rest of the counter.

So that's my master bathroom! It is pretty hard to take pictures of this room because it isn't huge but hopefully this gives you a good idea!

Home Remodeling: Master Bathroom

One of my home remodeling goals was to change the towel racks in all bathrooms. The current towel racks are cheaply made and not my style.

The first project I wanted to tackle this year was to replace the master bathroom towel rack, hand towel rack, and toilet paper holder. To do this I used a gift card I received for Christmas so the total cost for this project was around $3.00 (what my gift card did not cover).

Here is the old towel rack. It is functional but because it is pretty flimsy you can see that the weight of a wet towel is starting to cause a bend in the middle. So, while it is functional now, it may not be functional for too long!


So for those of you who haven't ever changed out your bathroom fixtures before, I will walk you through the steps. First, remove the old hardware from the wall. Next repair the holes with spackle. I used a color changing spackle that goes on pink and changes to white when dry.

This is now a good time to make muffins because you have to wait for the spackle to dry in order to start the next step.

Once the spackle is dry, the next step is to touch up the paint. This is also a good time to touch up any other areas in the room.

When the paint is completely dry, drill holes to line up with the installation hardware. The hardware may vary depending on the product you buy but in general you have a bracket that you install on the wall and then attach the towel rack to this bracket.

It is all pretty simple if you ask me!

Here is the finished towel rack on the wall.



I also replaced the toilet paper holder and the hand towel rack so that they all match. I am loving this new look. It is a simple and relatively inexpensive way to change the look of a room.

Stay tuned for a tour of my 'finished' master bathroom!

2011: The purging continues!

The purging continues!

I was in the mood to go through more things today after work and managed to come up with quite a few more items to give to charity.

This time around I added:
1 stuffed animal
2 books
1 dress
3 shirts
1 pair slippers
1 bathing suit
1 ipod accessory
1 jewelry box
19 pairs socks
1 hairclip
5 necklaces
1 ring
4 necklace charms
1 pin
2 bracelets
5 pairs of shoes
2 storage baskets

For a total of 51 items added to the pile. That brings my 2011 donation total to 179 items! It feels good to get these items I am not using out of my house and I am happy to know that they will be going to someone who will be getting some use out of them. There is no point in keeping stuff around just to have more stuff, especially when it can be used by someone else.

Here is the impressive donation pile:

Yay! I love how clean and tidy my house feels and I love knowing that my house isn't full of clutter!

Menu plan, week of 1/10/11

This week will be a bit of an odd week for me so I only have 1 meal planned to carry me through.

Dinners:
Chicken and Dumplings and salad (recipe later this week)

Lunch:
Leftovers
Peanut butter sandwich

Breakfast:
Fruit
Muffins

Snacks:
Fruit
Carrots
Fig Newtons

January Eating from the Pantry Challenge - Week 1

I did pretty well this week on groceries. At Kroger I spent ~ $13 (lost receipt - whoops!) on the following staples. I needed milk and bread. The Diet Coke is a guilty pleasure but it is cheaper than buying it in the vending machine which I am prone to do.

The large box of Corn Chex was marked down to $1.75 and I have no idea why. The puddings were holiday themed and were also marked down - to $0.50 each.

I bought 2 shampoos at Target this week because I am on the verge of being out of shampoo. Target was having a decent sale and I had a coupon so it worked out. I got both of these for $2.59 but paid using a gift card so these were FREE.


On a second trip to Kroger I picked up some other items that I am almost out of (Veggie Oil, paper towels, etc) for a total of $6.41.

And I did have a splurge trip that I just couldn't pass up. Harris Teeter has boneless chicken breast on sale for Buy 1 Get 2 Free which is a fantastic deal. So I got 5.6 lbs of chicken for just over $9.

Given that I am trying to eat from the pantry this month, this seems like quite a bit to spend. However, now that I've stocked up on some staples that I was missing following the holidays, I should be in a good position to minimize spending for the rest of the month!

Total for the week: $28.79
Total for the month: $28.79

2011 Goals: Personal Development

As I mentioned previously, I am structuring my goals a little differently this year. The first area I mentioned was Home Remodeling. The second area I want to focus on this year is Personal Development. This means activities that will either teach me something or force me to try something new.

2011 Personal Development Goals:
- Read at least 3 books per month. Topics are flexible but I think the act of reading is important because it keeps me away from the television.
- Try 1 new recipe per month. I find myself repeating the same recipes over and over and while I do enjoy what I cook, I am probably missing out on a lot of other delicious meals. I might even find a new favorite!
- Attempt 6 "Do it yourself" projects. Following MoneySavingMom's example, I am going to try to step out of my box a little and try some new things. Some of these may tie into my home remodeling goals.
- Volunteer somewhere at least once per month. Volunteering has so many benefits - it can even improve your health!

I will try to blog about each of these activities as I complete them so stay tuned!

Booking It in 2011

Another year, another set of goals. I tried to focus on reading a bit in 2010 but didn't have much of a structure to it. I am hoping that by following along with FishMama's Booking It challenge, I'll keep up my motivation to keep up with some reading.

My goal is to read 3 books per month. At this point I don't have any specific topic area goals. Ideally I'd read at least 1 'informational' book and 1 book purely for pleasure.

I'm not sure how this will turn out, but the important thing is to keep up with the reading!

New Year, New Organizational System

One thing I have struggled with is keeping on top of my cleaning. I have a busy schedule and often find myself behind on housekeeping. When this happens I tend to spend a whole night catching up, which is neither fun nor time efficient.

So, with the start of 2011, I am trying out a new type of system (Inspired by Jack's mom). I printed out a list of tasks I try to accomplish in a typical week and laminated it.

Then I taped it into the kitchen cabinet where I keep my office supplies. I go into this cabinet every day so I will see the to-do list regularly. I also put a dry erase marker in there so that I can mark the items that have already been completed for the week.

Hopefully by the end of the week everything will be crossed off! I'll keep you updated on how this system works for me.

January Eating from the Pantry Challenge!

FishMama over at Life As Mom is hosting a Pantry Challenge this month. The point of the challenge is to make the most of what you have, either by stocking your pantry, using items in your pantry, or whatever else you might need.

For me, this means clearing out some food from the freezer and pantry before they go bad. So, for the month of January I am going to limit myself to 50% of my grocery budget. Grocery money can be used for necessary items, produce, meat, and perishables. Any extra money left over at the end of the month will go into the home improvement fund!

I will keep you updated on my progress!

2011 Goals: Home Remodeling

This year I am structuring my goals a little differently. Instead of one long list of goals, I am going to separate them all by category. First up - home remodeling.

2011 Home Remodeling Goals
- Tile Backsplash for Kitchen
- Paint rest of house (dining room, hallways, living room, master bedroom)
- Replace light fixture in dining room
- Replace kitchen faucet
- Replace towel racks in all bathrooms

These are probably a little ambitious, especially because a few of these are above my skill level and probably will require that I hire a professional. But, whatever gets accomplished will be better than accomplishing nothing at all!!

I haven't set a timeline for these because some of it will depend on saving enough money for each goal. My plan is to pay cash for all of these renovations. I will update on progress as I cross things off the list!

Menu plan, week of 1/3/2011

One of my 2011 goals is to really step up my menu planning. I've dabbled with menu planning a bit in the past but haven't been consistent about it. I have found that when I plan a menu I eat healthier, waste less, and spend less money so all in all it seems like a pretty easy way to stay on track with some other goals.

The system that seems to work best for me is to have a general guide of meal possibilities for the week instead of specifying what will be eaten on each day. My schedule can be quite variable so I can't be too specific!

So - on to the plan!

Dinners:
Veggie Spring Rolls
Curry Chicken

Lunches:
Peanut butter sandwiches
Leftovers

Breakfasts:
Oatmeal
Granola Bars
Fruit

Snacks:
Chocolate Pudding
Fruit

Beginning of 2011 Purging!

Happy New Year to my faithful reader(s)! Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for posts about my 2011 goals. I have some big ones that I am hoping to tackle so this could be an exciting year!

I am happy to start this year by getting rid of some clutter. I am still working on purging but I am happy with my progress so far.

Here is what is currently in my donation pile:

2 skirts
20 pairs of socks
1 pajama set
1 jacket
3 belts
3 sports bras
3 bras
8 sweaters
9 pairs of pants
5 scarves
25 shirts
1 bookshelf
1 pair of shoes
1 exercise mat
1 hat
1 blanket
3 dish towels
1 pot holder
1 stuffed animal
2 vases
28 books
2 frying pans
1 baking dish
1 decorative plant
1 package of 12 christmas ornaments
2 water bottles
1 plastic 2-drawer storage thing.

Grand total: 128 items!

Not too shabby if you ask me!! I should have at least 1 additional donation in the coming weeks. It probably won't be as big as this one, but every little bit helps in getting rid of the clutter!!