So it's another Friday Night in Winslow and we're off to Tulsa tomorrow!
So basically that means that we've just spent our Friday night running around the house like chickens with our heads cut off, getting ready for our trip!
I came home, we put away the groceries, made cupcakes and cookies for our families, packed, rested, packed some more, finished a load of laundry, reheated a pot of chili for dinner, ate, cleaned house, chatted with Damon over a glass of wine, let the dogs in to roam around the house and warm up, because it's freaking freezing outside, while we watched a little TV, and now, we're ready to pass out.
What can ya say... Friday Night in Winslow!
Just for fun:
Weekly shopping trip: Bought $87.95 worth of stuff, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $55.37 out of pocket! I'm telling you, smart shopping and clipping coupons makes a huge difference to your budget!
Friday, February 22, 2013
Friday, February 16th, 2013
Friday I spent the night, along with Damon helping me, sorting through a slew of paperwork for the non-profit I volunteer at. Invoices to be paid, building the 2013 budget, collecting service statistics, trying to decipher all the governmental regulations, etc.
I don't know whether it's sad that I spent my entire Friday night doing this, or if it makes me a good person to devote a Friday night to a worthy cause?
I do know that I have a terrible habit of signing myself up for too many "to-do's", finding myself with no free time whatsoever. Now looking at this blog, I barely have time to actually write it on a Friday night. The difference is, writing is what I love, if I could work for a living doing just that, I'd be a very happy person. Instead, I end up having so much to do that I can't find time for what I love.
Now, that is sad.
Don't get me wrong, it's usually my own fault! I know that I already have zero time to do anything extra, but when I want to try something, or I get excited about something, and I just go for it. Then there are the times when someone says "hey, your good at that, why don't you do it", and my dumb ass goes and does it. Only problem is, usually what's being asked of me is just the tip of the iceberg, once I start doing it, it turns out to be way more than I bargained for. Being only slightly OCD, I don't want to do it half-assed, even if what was asked of me wasn't the whole story, I continue to jump in and give it my all anyway.
I guess I'm just saying that after this mountain of paperwork, and all of the other time and effort that has gone into my volunteering, I find myself feeling like "butter spread over too much bread". It's not a good feeling; feeling conflicted about what path you want to take yourself down is scary enough in itself.
Moral of my little rant...... Don't overlook the important things in life, trying to conquer the world. Find time to watch a sunset, have breakfast in bed, go for a walk, play with your dogs, spend time with your family and friends, and just "do you"! Take some "me" time and do something YOU really want to do, relax, and truly enjoy yourself once in a while!
Just for fun:
Weekly shopping trip: Bought $34.21 worth of stuff, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $18.73 out of pocket!
I don't know whether it's sad that I spent my entire Friday night doing this, or if it makes me a good person to devote a Friday night to a worthy cause?
I do know that I have a terrible habit of signing myself up for too many "to-do's", finding myself with no free time whatsoever. Now looking at this blog, I barely have time to actually write it on a Friday night. The difference is, writing is what I love, if I could work for a living doing just that, I'd be a very happy person. Instead, I end up having so much to do that I can't find time for what I love.
Now, that is sad.
Don't get me wrong, it's usually my own fault! I know that I already have zero time to do anything extra, but when I want to try something, or I get excited about something, and I just go for it. Then there are the times when someone says "hey, your good at that, why don't you do it", and my dumb ass goes and does it. Only problem is, usually what's being asked of me is just the tip of the iceberg, once I start doing it, it turns out to be way more than I bargained for. Being only slightly OCD, I don't want to do it half-assed, even if what was asked of me wasn't the whole story, I continue to jump in and give it my all anyway.
I guess I'm just saying that after this mountain of paperwork, and all of the other time and effort that has gone into my volunteering, I find myself feeling like "butter spread over too much bread". It's not a good feeling; feeling conflicted about what path you want to take yourself down is scary enough in itself.
Moral of my little rant...... Don't overlook the important things in life, trying to conquer the world. Find time to watch a sunset, have breakfast in bed, go for a walk, play with your dogs, spend time with your family and friends, and just "do you"! Take some "me" time and do something YOU really want to do, relax, and truly enjoy yourself once in a while!
Just for fun:
Weekly shopping trip: Bought $34.21 worth of stuff, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $18.73 out of pocket!
Friday, February 8, 2013
Friday, February 8th, 2013
So here we are again!
It's Friday Night in Winslow..... Because it's near the first of the month, that means it was our monthly Sam's shopping trip for Damon. He ran to town today to stock up on our ground beef, ground turkey, shredded cheese, and frozen chicken breast, along with some other things that are cheaper to buy in bulk from Sams versus other stores, things like home air filters, Ziploc bags, and Reynold's wrap. I say these things specifically because they are on the small list of items I have yet to figure-out how to get FREE or at least almost free using coupons and sales!
Anyway, this is Friday Night in Winslow, not Friday day... so let's move on!
So because of this once a month shopping trip, we were then left with putting all this stuff away and it's a chore. Don't get me wrong, putting things away after my weekly grocery shopping trip can be a pain in the rear at times too! It's just more fun because I bring home free or almost free stuff!!!
I know, I know, I'm starting to ramble..... Can anyone say ADD???
So, here is why putting away our Sam's stuff once a month is such a pain. we have 10 pounds of ground turkey meat, 10 pounds of hamburger meat, 12 pounds of boneless chicken breast, 5 pounds of crispy chicken tenders, and 5 pounds of shredded cheese, and what the hell to do with it all? We break out the quart size Ziploc freezer bags, the food scale, and a sharpie, and we start going to town! Damon of course is in charge of portioning the meats, I don't like getting my hands dirty on animal flesh. I do however assist him by getting out and opening the Ziploc bags, sometimes I even help him seal them up and label them with the date, but mostly I'm on cheese duty! I'd like to tell you, I can eye-ball the 1 pound portions of the cheese like nobodies business!
We separate everything into a 1 pound portion size, put that into a quart size freezer bag, mark the date on the bag (so we can rotate it through the freezer, using the oldest bags first), and throw it into the freezer until we need it! Damon (Mr. OCD) of course insists that I use the scale on the cheese, but I do that only after I have them perfectly separated by my good eye-ball!
Damon's work on all the meat takes him quite a bit longer than the cheese takes me, so while he is still weighing and bagging his meats, I decided I would sit down and write my little Friday Night in Winslow. When he's done, we'll get dinner started and then enjoy a movie snuggled up on the couch! What else is there to do in Winslow on a Friday night?
Just as an FYI to maybe help you save some money too, 90/10 Ground Beef at Sam's is only $3.48 per pound, Ground Turkey is only $2.75 per pound, and Frozen Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast is only $2.25 per pound. We eat a lot of each of those meats, so we usually buy a month's worth of meat, freeze it, and eat on it all month long. We easily save enough in a single month by shopping this way to pay for the annual Sam's membership fee, so 11 months out of the year we are saving a ton on our meats.
It's Friday Night in Winslow..... Because it's near the first of the month, that means it was our monthly Sam's shopping trip for Damon. He ran to town today to stock up on our ground beef, ground turkey, shredded cheese, and frozen chicken breast, along with some other things that are cheaper to buy in bulk from Sams versus other stores, things like home air filters, Ziploc bags, and Reynold's wrap. I say these things specifically because they are on the small list of items I have yet to figure-out how to get FREE or at least almost free using coupons and sales!
Anyway, this is Friday Night in Winslow, not Friday day... so let's move on!
So because of this once a month shopping trip, we were then left with putting all this stuff away and it's a chore. Don't get me wrong, putting things away after my weekly grocery shopping trip can be a pain in the rear at times too! It's just more fun because I bring home free or almost free stuff!!!
I know, I know, I'm starting to ramble..... Can anyone say ADD???
So, here is why putting away our Sam's stuff once a month is such a pain. we have 10 pounds of ground turkey meat, 10 pounds of hamburger meat, 12 pounds of boneless chicken breast, 5 pounds of crispy chicken tenders, and 5 pounds of shredded cheese, and what the hell to do with it all? We break out the quart size Ziploc freezer bags, the food scale, and a sharpie, and we start going to town! Damon of course is in charge of portioning the meats, I don't like getting my hands dirty on animal flesh. I do however assist him by getting out and opening the Ziploc bags, sometimes I even help him seal them up and label them with the date, but mostly I'm on cheese duty! I'd like to tell you, I can eye-ball the 1 pound portions of the cheese like nobodies business!
We separate everything into a 1 pound portion size, put that into a quart size freezer bag, mark the date on the bag (so we can rotate it through the freezer, using the oldest bags first), and throw it into the freezer until we need it! Damon (Mr. OCD) of course insists that I use the scale on the cheese, but I do that only after I have them perfectly separated by my good eye-ball!
Damon's work on all the meat takes him quite a bit longer than the cheese takes me, so while he is still weighing and bagging his meats, I decided I would sit down and write my little Friday Night in Winslow. When he's done, we'll get dinner started and then enjoy a movie snuggled up on the couch! What else is there to do in Winslow on a Friday night?
Just as an FYI to maybe help you save some money too, 90/10 Ground Beef at Sam's is only $3.48 per pound, Ground Turkey is only $2.75 per pound, and Frozen Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast is only $2.25 per pound. We eat a lot of each of those meats, so we usually buy a month's worth of meat, freeze it, and eat on it all month long. We easily save enough in a single month by shopping this way to pay for the annual Sam's membership fee, so 11 months out of the year we are saving a ton on our meats.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Friday, February 1st, 2013
So as part of our smart shopping, we decided about six months ago to start planning out a weekly menu in order to cut down on impulse buying while at the store. We immediately saw a huge decrease in our grocery shopping!
We happen to really enjoy cooking and trying new recipes, so we had A LOT of recipes that we've collected from magazines online, many we have tried but even more that we thought we might like to try one day but have not yet gotten around to making. We ended up with two big 3-ring binders full of recipes that were very disorganized.
So, for lack of anything better to do on a Friday Night in Winslow, I got an additional binder and we went to work. We began by naming the three binders; "everyday" meals, "special occasion" meals, and "try it you might like it" meals (all of the recipes we have not yet tried making). Once we had a plan, we started tearing threw our tons of recipes and placing them into the appropriate category.
Yes, I know, this sounds like way too much fun for anyone to have on a Friday night but we're lucky like that! Lol! Seriously though, Damon is a little OCD and I LOVE to organize, so actually, it was a lot of fun and it's going to save us a lot of time during our weekly menu planning nights, because all of our recipes are now neatly tucked away in their appropriate binder!
Just for fun:
Weekly shopping trip: Bought $66.01 worth of stuff, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $42.79 out of pocket! Not too shabby but if you don't think that's enough to bother with couponing, I'll tell you my January total for coupons and savings was $335.42, that's 42%!!
We happen to really enjoy cooking and trying new recipes, so we had A LOT of recipes that we've collected from magazines online, many we have tried but even more that we thought we might like to try one day but have not yet gotten around to making. We ended up with two big 3-ring binders full of recipes that were very disorganized.
So, for lack of anything better to do on a Friday Night in Winslow, I got an additional binder and we went to work. We began by naming the three binders; "everyday" meals, "special occasion" meals, and "try it you might like it" meals (all of the recipes we have not yet tried making). Once we had a plan, we started tearing threw our tons of recipes and placing them into the appropriate category.
Yes, I know, this sounds like way too much fun for anyone to have on a Friday night but we're lucky like that! Lol! Seriously though, Damon is a little OCD and I LOVE to organize, so actually, it was a lot of fun and it's going to save us a lot of time during our weekly menu planning nights, because all of our recipes are now neatly tucked away in their appropriate binder!
Just for fun:
Weekly shopping trip: Bought $66.01 worth of stuff, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $42.79 out of pocket! Not too shabby but if you don't think that's enough to bother with couponing, I'll tell you my January total for coupons and savings was $335.42, that's 42%!!
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