This might not excite you as much as it does me, but as of yesterday, we survived one entire month without eating out! Not even a 99 cent chicken nugget or milkshake on the way home from church. Coming from a girl who doesn't particularly like the kitchen, this is a big deal! I can cook pretty decently, but it's just not my thing, you know? The only personal fulfillment I get from cooking is that it provides nourishment for my family. I figure if Bob Evans or Papa Johns can do the same thing, then why bother. All of my stay-at-home-mom pals are probably laughing their heads off right now, but I don't find it easy to cook after working outside the home all day. It is much easier to do on my days at home, but I knew if we were going to change our lifestyle we would have to eat at home every day, all the time. And we did it, with the exception of Evan's birthday (thanks to G. & G. Burley for picking up the tab). As I mentioned in my first post, I made a menu for the month of January, and made one very large shopping trip to fulfill the menu. We had to stop at the store a few times during the month for milk, bread, or special, unexpected items, but it was nothing like the stress and spend of the previous months. Something funny is that I don't think we actually ate one meal as scheduled on the menu calendar. The nice thing was that it really didn't matter what night we ate the meals, the ingredients and items necessary for the meals were there. I just swapped things around to suit our taste for the day, and it turned out fine. We actually have quite a few things left to roll into this month's menu (which I don't have made yet, since we're staying with grandma and I haven't had time!). For all of you who have done this all along and are glad I'm finally growing up, just allow me a little time to enjoy my personal milestone. Then you can post all your suggestions for fine-tuning my system.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. We are just going to curl up and watch the snow fall!
I'm going to post some pics later this evening. Just have to wait till after 9 so I don't get charged airtime when I transfer them from my phone. I know, I just need to get a digital camera, but until then...
4 comments:
Way to go Stephanie!! That would be even a big accomplishment for me. I don't know if Kelsey and I could survive to many weeks w/o our Friday lunch @ McD's, after our grocery trip. :-)
By the way, Dave Ramsey is coming to K.C., MO in May. Mark is urging me to get tckts. We'll see??
Wow! I'm very impressed. I don't think I could possibly go a whole month without eating out. I figure all cooks need a break ONCE in a while :) I'm curious as to whether or not the monthly shopping turned out economical? I tend to buy the weekly specials and stock up, but the idea of avoiding the whole shopping trip every week does have it's appeal. I'm sure my kids would say a loud "amen" to that! Let me know.
Jana,
Evan, Kaitlynn, and I were kind of hooked on our Taco Bell stops during our days off, but we did well and the kids didn't act too deprived! I'm going to be envious if you get to see Ramsey...I really wanted to go to G.R. on the 17th, but I guess weddings are more important. My mom told me last night that he was going to be speaking at a church in Cincy, so I'll have to find out when, where, etc.
Take care!
Nancy,
I, like you, shopped ads weekly. My problem was that if something came up, the shopping was skipped or delayed, forcing us to eat out for an indefinite period of time. :)
Also, I would inevitably throw things in my cart that weren't on a huge sale, but appealed or seemed needed. Now what I do is get the ads at the beginning of the month, compile a list of ingredients needed from my menu, write the list with all the sale prices from different stores, and then shop Super Walmart. They price match everything for you, saving 15 different grocery stops. Then I go to Aldi and get everything else that I need that didn't happen to be on sale. It worked well. This month I am going to fine tune it a little. I still think I bought some things last month that I didn't end up needing. It was very cost effective, and the best part was having delicious lunches of leftovers each day. Kids at school sometimes looked enviously at my kids lunches, but it was just the previous night's excess. It was nice for Greg, as well, because he never had to scrounge around looking for what to fix if it fell his lot. I guess the best part was not having to wonder and worry whether I had everything or not. The cabinets were full! Thanks to God for His blessings!
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