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Monthly Archives: February 2014
Menu Plan Monday: February 17th, 2014
February 17th – March 2nd, 2014
Saturday 15th – Sloppy Joes and Corn Soufflé (Wknd) (1+ hrs) (Emeals – #519)
Sunday 16th – Pork Loin with Cranberry Sauce (Wknd) (30 mins) (Emeals – #519) Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Rutabagas
Monday 17th – (Holiday) Paul’s Chicken Noodle Soup
Tuesday 18th – FPU – Pizza Casserole – (1hr 20 mins) (Emeals – #519)
Wednesday 19th – Spicy Pork Noodle Bowls – Egg Rolls (35 mins) (Emeals #519)
Thursday 20th –Biscuit and Gravy, Scrambled Eggs –
Friday 21st – Pizzeria Burgers & Seasoned Fries (Simple & Delicious – Dec/January 2013)
Saturday 22nd – Crispy Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Corn
Sunday 23rd – (Soccer) – Pioneer Woman’s Baked Ziti and Cheddar Bacon Salad
Week #2
Monday 24th – (Soccer) – Soup and Grilled Cheese
Tuesday 25th – FPU – Easy Chicken and Rice Casserole
Wednesday 26th – French Toast, Scrambles Eggs and Bacon
Thursday 27th – Crockpot Chili
Friday 28th – Hot Dogs with Chili and Fries
Saturday, March 1st – Mom’s Mac N Cheese (Double) – Sausage
Sunday – 2nd – Classic Lasagna/ Garlic Bread (Emeals – 473)
Food Budget: We decided to start tracking how much we spend on food/household expenses each month again in hopes to budget appropriately. Wanting to keep our budget at $100 per person each month. We are a household of 5 adults, 1 growing boy who eats like an adult and 1 toddler.
Shopping Trip: 2/15/14
Aldi – $ 136.50
Walmart – $ 44.78
Sam’s Club – $ 147.09
Festival – $ 13.88
Total for 2 weeks of food: $ 342.25/ 6.5 (count baby as 1/2) = $52.65 per person or $171.13 per week on groceries.
February Food/Household Total – $383.88 (2/1)+ 342.25 (2/15) = $ 726.13
Monthly Total: $111.71 per household member.
For more Menu Planning inspiration stop by and visit Laura at Organizing Junkie and participate in Menu Plan Monday. Need help getting started menu planning – Emeals is a great solution. Many meal plans to chose from at a very affordable price.
Wishing you all a wonderful week!!!
Happy Cooking!!
FPU: Big Tax Return = Big Screen TV! NOT!!
There may have been a time in our lives when a large tax return meant some new expensive toy for the family. We are no longer those people and have really changed how we look at our tax returns.
In 2010 we embarked on a new journey to become debt free after attending Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class at our church. We are still working on that journey. The entire experience has been life changing for us. This experience changes how we look at our tax return. Most of our tax return is earmarked before we even receive it. We fully fund irregular expenses we know we will experience in the upcoming year.
I must admit: This practice would most likely not be endorsed by Dave Ramsey. He would like you to manage your money and not have the government hold onto it for you all year. For us, it works as it actually forces us to live beneath our means. It is a fool-proof way to save funds that we know we can’t touch until we file our taxes. If the government makes an extra 5 bucks in interest off of our withholding, then they can keep it and we’ll appreciate that this money was saved for us 
That being said, you can bet we file our taxes very early in the tax season. We file our taxes the first Saturday in February. Since we both claim “single-zero” on for payroll deductions our return is usually pretty big.
For 2014, the following will be fully funded from our tax return:
Debt Reduction – we will pay off our last credit card, if there is still a balance once we receive our tax return. (That card is down to about 1 and 1/2 payments til zeroed-out.)
Emergency Fund – will be fully funded at $2000.
Car Insurance – set aside enough funds to pay car insurance on all vehicles every 6 months to receive a discount.
Christmas – yes, we fully fund Christmas in February! What peace of mind! (Because you know Christmas is going to happen again this year.)
City of WBL – irregular bills are hard to budget for so we fully fund them from our tax return. This a quarterly bill that used-to sneak up on us at times….not anymore!!
Soccer Fees – our youngest plays traveling soccer
Camp – our youngest goes to camp each year.
Duct Cleaning – This year we are having the ducts in our home cleaned. Between illnesses and allergies, it seemed like a good thing to get done. This was last done in 2007.
Summer Fun – this is a new category we are funding this year. We found that small parties, mini-weekend-vacations and other fun events over the summer wreaked havoc on our budget. This year we set aside extra money to go to participate in summer fun!
Training – as a licensed social worker, I need to attend 40 hours of training every 2 years to renew my license. I need to complete 26 hours this year. This will fund the conferences, meals and lodging for me to complete my training hours.
We should be able to fully fund all of these items from our tax return. This is a huge relief to us to know these expenses will not have to be worried about! As you can see there is no Big Screen TV on our list, but instead many other things that give us a huge sense of relief knowing they are fully funded for the year. The concept of saving for future expenses is called a “Sinking Fund”. If you want more info you can read our blog post about “Sinking Funds” and how we organize our finances.
We are different people with different priorities….we live a simpler life striving towards our goal to be DEBT FREE, (and financially secure when we retire!)
Wishing you all a wonderful week!
Blessings…
Paul and Jen
Joyfully Living Below Our Means
Menu Plan Monday: February 3, 2014
February 1st – February 16th, 2014
Week #1
Saturday 1st – Sunday Chops and Stuffing (Simple & Delicious –Dec/Jan 2014 – pg 13)
Dessert: German Apple Cake (need to use up some apples that are getting a bit too ripe)
Sunday 2nd – (Super Bowl) Chili Con Carne, Seven Layer Dip, Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
Monday 3rd – (6:00 Soccer – Mom Working Late) – Rosemary Chicken and Vegetables (Crockpot 6-8hrs) (Emeals # 518)
Tuesday 4th– Creamy Burrito Casserole and Avocado Rice (50 mins) (Emeals # 518)
Wednesday 5th– (4:00 Meeting) – Spicy Pork Noodle Bowls – Egg Rolls (35 mins) (Emeals #519)
Thursday 6th – (7:15 Soccer) – Seasoned Chick Strips / Mac and Cheese and Carrot Sticks (30 mins) (Emeals # 518)
Friday 7th – (6th Grade Retreat) – Bacon Ranch Toasted Subs / Fruit and Chips (25 mins) (Emeals – #519)
Saturday 8th – Pizza Casserole – (1hr 20 mins) (Emeals – #519)
Sunday 9th – Country Fried Steak Bits and Gravy and Mashed Potatoes (40 mins) (Emeals – #519)
Week #2
Monday 10th – (6:00 Soccer) – Chicken Broccoli and Rice (quick meal) – Salad
Ingredients:
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups water
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cups Broccoli (I use frozen, straight out of the freezer)
2 cups Instant Rice
Process:
In a large skillet, make sure that you chicken is warm and put aside in a bowl. Then mix water and soup together and bring to a boil (now is when you add any seasonings). Turn down and mix in all ingredients remaining. Cover and cook on medium/low for 5 minutes. If you are using frozen broccoli it will take up to another 5 minutes.
Tuesday 11th – (6:30 FPU) – Tacos for a Crowd (Crock Pot)
Wednesday 12th – (4:00 Meeting) – Cheesy Bakes Fish, Parmesan Pasta and Green Bean Tomato Salad (30 mins) (Emeals # 518)
Thursday 13th – (3:30 Meeting/7:15 Soccer) – Beef Fried Rice and Salad (45 mins) (Emeals # 518)
Friday 14th – (Valentine’s Day) Baked Shrimp Scampi/ Wild Rice/ Vegetable
Dessert: No-Bake Cheery Cheesecake
Saturday 15th – Pork Loin with Cranberry Sauce (Wknd) (30 mins) (Emeals – #519)
Sunday 16th – Sloppy Joes and Corn Soufflé (Wknd) (1+ hrs) (Emeals – #519)
Food Budget: We decided to start tracking how much we spend on food/household expenses each month again in hopes to budget appropriately. Wanting to keep our budget at $100 per person each month. We are a household of 5 adults, 1 growing boy who eats like an adult and 1 toddler.
Shopping Trip: 2/1/14
Aldi – $ 190.87
Walmart – $ 123.15
Sam’s Club – $ 67.45
Kowalski’s – $2.41
Total for 2 weeks of food: $ 383.88 / 6.5 (count baby as 1/2) = $59.06 per person or $191.94 per week on groceries. A bit over budget, but we did buy some special items for Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day meal.
For more Menu Planning inspiration stop by and visit Laura at Organizing Junkie and participate in Menu Plan Monday. Need help getting started menu planning – Emeals is a great solution. Many meal plans to chose from at a very affordable price.
Wishing you all a wonderful week!!!
Happy Cooking!!