The Four Meal Planners

Meal planning, while it takes some time and a little effort, can be one of the biggest time-savers for a busy wife, mom and homemaker. I'll admit, I don't do it as often as I'd like, but when I do, I find myself less stressed because I don't have to figure out meals at the last minute. I also use foo dmore economically and efficiently because I have a specific plan for how to use each item in the fridge, freezer and pantry. Often I have to arearrange my meal plan, but usually that results in the meals lasting more days than I'd anticipated (for example, Hubby and I might decide one night that popcorn and some fruit is enough for supper, so the chicken stir-fry I had planned can get scooted to the end of the week, extending my meal plan another day).

There are a variety of ways to meal plan. I'll give you a few ideas, and then tell you what I do and why. Maybe you're already a pro meal-planner. If so, you're doing way better than I am: way to go! But keep reading anyway; maybe I can provide some ideas and hints for you, too.

Meal Planner #1: The "What looks good?" Shopper
This person goes to the grocery store without a set plan--maybe without a shopping list--and buys whatever food looks good and what they feel like eating. Later, they'll make meals out of what ends up in their fridge.

This is the most expensive way to shop: without a plan or list. If you have an unlimited grocery budget, and if this sounds like you and it works for you, great! Do what works best for you and your family. But with just a little planning, you could save money at the grocery store and have a game plan for future meals--both great things.

Meal Planner #2: The Coupon-Clipper
This person buys groceries based on what they can get 50 cents off, two-for-one, or free with purchase of ___. While this person might end up spending less money than their fellow shoppers, they'll probably end up with a cart of food that's not easily made into a week's worth of meals.

A knack for couponing is best when combined with some planning. Use coupons for the items you normally buy anyway--that's the best way to save money.

Meal Planner #3: The Cookbook-Peruser
This person sits down with a stack of cookbooks each week, picks out recipes they want to try, and then makes a shopping list based on the ingredients they'll need to make those recipes. While this is a wise method of planning, it can end up being expensive depending on what ingredients a recipe calls for. However, for someone who likes having clear directions to follow when cooking, or who doesn't have a lot of experience cooking, this method can be very helpful and time-saving.

Meal Planner #4: The List-Maker
This person writes out their grocery list first, filling it with basic ingredients that can be used for a variety of recipes. Then they figure out what meals can be made with the food they buy, and write a meal plan with those meals. This can be the cheapest way to shop, but it can be tricky to figure out meals based on what's in the fridge and pantry.

I'm most like Meal Planner #4, with a little bit of the others thrown in. I have a "recipe repertoire" of about 40 dishes (covering all 3 meals) that I can make with some basic ingredients. I get those basics every time I shop, and I can make quite a variety of things with the food I try to keep handy. I also don't buy much at all of pre-packed foods--I buy more ingredients than ready-to-eat items. To give you an idea, here's what a "typical" grocery list for me might look like:

• milk
• eggs
• butter
• cheese
• potatoes
• carrots
• celery
• lettuce
• tomatoes
• frozen broccoli
• frozen green beans
• bananas
• peaches
• apples
• grapes
• flour
• cocoa
• brown sugar
• baking soda
• spaghetti
• macaroni noodles
• canned tomatoes
• tomato sauce
• 2 cans tuna
• 10 lbs frozen chicken quarters
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 4 lbs tilapia fillets
• coffee
• tea
• rice
• salsa
• barbecue sauce
• ice cream

I don't always buy all these things, because some things only need to be bought once a month or less. Things that last us quite a while are, for example, honey, spices, onions, tea, coffee, cocoa, vanilla, etc. Right now people keep giving us fresh produce and herbs from their gardens, which is great because I've been able to buy less plus I'm getting things I don't normally buy, like fresh parsley and basil.

My point is, with the things I do buy and usually have on hand I can create a lot of different meals. I have a mental list of what I can make and looking at my grocery list I know what meals can come out of it. This is the easiest way for me to keep to a budget, because I don't have to buy fancy ingredients for new recipes, and I can spend about the same every shopping trip because I get basically the same things each time. That's not to say I don't ever use my cookbooks, but I use them more as reference books. If I want to make something specific, I'll look up a recipe for it so I know how to make it.

This is what works with me. I realize everyone has a different lifestyle, budget, and eating preferences, so what works with me might not work with you. But I hope I've given you some ideas that will be useful and might help you save some money.

What kind of meal-planner are you? What method works best for you and your cooking style?

How to Have A Beautiful Wedding (Without Breaking the Bank)

Getting married can be an expensive event, and not just for the bride and groom--for their parents and even their guests.  Ceremonies are elaborate, receptions are lavish, and wedding registries are often at pricey, upscale stores.

You might know this already, but there is a way to have a beautiful, memorable wedding day without breaking the bank!  If you can save money, time and stress in planning your wedding, you can put more energy into planning for your marriage, which is so much more important.  A wedding is one day--your marriage is for life!

That said, I know most girls dream about having a beautiful, fairy-tale day.  I hope these suggestions can help you do that while keeping to a modest budget!

Simplicity is a good thing.
If you're getting married in a pretty church, you shouldn't need many decorations.  We just had candles and tulle bows on the ends of the pews, and a bouquet of flowers on the altar.  We didn't have our reception at a fancy hotel or reception hall (see "Think outside the box").  You don't need to have ribeye steak and a big open bar.  People are at your wedding to celebrate your marriage--if they want to go out later for a five-course-dinner, they can.

Do it yourself.
There are SO many things you could do yourself!  I have a friend who made her own wedding dress.  If you know someone with sewing skills, this would be an option even if you aren't a seamstress (for more on that, see "Enlist friends and family to help").

We didn't hire a wedding planner.  I decided where things would happen, when, and who our vendors were.  Unless you're planning on having your wedding at a venue that requires you to have a planner (which if you're trying to save money, I don't really suggest), you don't need one.

You could ask a friend with excellent amateur photography skills to take your pictures (pay them, of course) instead of hiring a professional whose fees will be higher.

Instead of a DJ, I made a CD with our favorite songs that we played over the PA system for the dance. A live band or DJ aren't necessary unless that's one of your priorities.

Enlist friends and family to help.
We had friends do the decorating for the ceremony and reception.  A friend of my mom's came over to do all the girls' hair, partly because our wedding was on a Sunday and our usual stylist couldn't come.  Two of my bridesmaids did my makeup.  My mom practiced doing French tip manicures for weeks and did them beautifully on all the girls.  (We saved a ton of money this way!)

We paid the lady who did flowers for us, but she wasn't a florist, just someone we knew with a knack for flower-arranging who does it a lot.  She was able to find a lot of things that were blooming in season, so we didn't have to order out-of-season flowers.

Instead of hiring caterers, we ordered food from the deli at our local grocery store (broasted chicken, cheesy potatoes, and rolls), bought fruit and vegetables to be made into salads, and had four dear couples from our church take care of all the food pick-up, prep, and serving (they had volunteered to serve at my wedding when I was in high school!).  Ask around--between both of your families, and the congregation of your church, you can definitely find people willing to help you out.

Look for bargains.
The place we had the reception had a much lower rate on Sundays, and after talking with the manager, we were able to have our "decorators" go in on Saturday to decorate without getting charged for the extra day.

Joshua and the groomsmen wore suits instead of renting tuxes--a better investment in the long run, because Joshua still wears his suit.

I wore my mom's wedding dress, and all it needed was $40 worth of alterations.  I wore her veil, too, and bought a tiara off Amazon to wear with it instead of the original cap.  Some second-hand stores will have really great wedding dresses that you can get cleaned and fixed up for a fraction of the price you would pay for buying a new one.

Instead of renting expensive dishes and glassware, since the reception site didn't have that available, we used high-quality, color-coordinating paper plates and napkins and plastic silverware and cups.  Oriental Trading is a great source for these things.  We even found plastic flatware that was colored silver so it really looked metal.  You can get these things personalized (we still have napkins with our names and the date!) for a fraction of the cost of linens and dishes.  Plus, there's a lot less clean-up!

Borrow things you won't use much again.
Like the wedding dress, for example.  We also borrowed a lot of our decorations--mirrors, vases, lights, fake greenery, table cloths.  A friend had two children who had gotten married a couple years previously, and she saved all their decorations.

Think outside the box (or reception hall, or cake).
We had our reception at our city's arts center.  It's not a huge place, but we had room for our reception of about 75 people.  I had been in plays there in high school so I knew the manager personally, which meant they were willing to negotiate with us.  It ended up costing only about $75 to rent the place for the weekend. It was just a couple blocks from the church and half a mile from the grocery store where we got the food, so it worked out perfectly.

Instead of a regular cake, we ordered cupcakes!  We were able to have three different varieties, and it was less messy (and required less serving ware) than regular cake.  We also had a cake reception at the church, right after the ceremony, for all the guests, and then had a smaller group (family, close friends, and out-of-town guests) for the dinner later.

We asked an acquaintance who also happens to be a Christian contemporary singer to sing for our wedding.  I didn't think he would be able to, but he said he was glad to, and then hardly charged us a thing!  It was so much more meaningful than just hiring a string quartet or something.  If you know someone with really great musical talent, see if they'd be willing to provide special music for the ceremony and/or reception.

Do things your way.
You don't have to have organ music, get married at a church (although that I do recommend, but parks are lovely), have a big, fancy reception at a hotel or country club, have 500 guests, put them up at the most expensive hotel in town, etc, etc.

You don't have to order all your bridesmaids' dresses from David's Bridal (although I did, and they were great).  I have a friend getting hers from Modcloth.  You could even have your bridesmaids wear dresses they already own, and just pick a common color.

My point is, it's YOUR wedding.  As long as Christ is central, the sky is the limit!  Be creative, let your wedding reflect you, and remember what's important.

Put more money toward lasting, important things.
The photos, for example.  Your wedding pictures will last decades past the actual day, and that's something that can't be said for the flowers, cake or decorations.

Put aside money for a honeymoon, but remember that you don't have to go all-out for that if you don't want to, either.  I know a lot of people go to Hawaii or on a cruise or to Italy or whatever, but we went to a bed and breakfast (a really nice one!) in the same town where we got married, which happens to be where my parents live.  We stayed there for two nights, flew home, and spent another night in a nice hotel suite because Joshua's parents paid for it for us.  Then we had a week together getting used to sharing an apartment before Joshua went back to work.  And it was great!  Someday I'd love to go on a big trip together, but it wasn't the distance that mattered--it was being together, having a great time (which we did), and getting to know each other as husband and wife.


Remember to plan for your marriage as you're planning for your wedding.  I highly recommend seeing your pastor for pre-marital counseling.  You can work through a lot of things on your own, but it's very helpful to have someone who's trained to be a counselor and spiritual leader help you look at things you might not have thought about.  It was a very helpful process for us, and enjoyable, too.

Now it's your turn: What tips do you have for low-budget wedding planning?  Talk with me! :)



Linking with The Alabaster Jar, Countrified Hicks, The Better Mom, The Modest Mom, Exceptionalistic, Growing Home, Fancy Little Things

How I'm Frugal at the Grocery Store (8 Tips and Ideas)

Otherwise known as, "How To Save Money at the Grocery Store and Still Get Lots of Good Food."  :)

I'm not nearly a professional at this yet, having had only a little over a year of practice.  However, I have developed some tips and tricks for saving my family money at the grocery store.  I'd like to share my new routine with you in the hopes that it will prove helpful for you as well!

1) Divide items on grocery list by category. That way I don't make multiple trips across the store.

2) Check weekly store fliers. If a store has a sale on something that I'll be buying anyway, I'll get it at that store (but I only ever go to two or three).

3) Note on shopping list which stores have which items.  If milk is $2.50 at one store and $3 at another, I'll get it at the first.

4) Include rough estimate of what each item will cost, on grocery list. 

5) Round up costs on everything.  That way, if I accidentally round low on something (since I don’t know exactly how much everything is) it mostly evens out.  It helps me avoid going over-budget.

This week I have a bigger grocery budget than usual, thanks to a bigger-than-usual paycheck—God is good!  However, there are a few extra things I need that I don’t usually buy, like plastic sandwich bags, plastic wrap, a pork roast for when my family comes for dinner on Monday, and toilet paper.  Those are things I don’t often buy, however, so they don’t need to be regularly budgeted into my groceries.

6) Add up estimated costs on all items, including things not absolutely necessary.

What I like doing to myself is putting things on the list that I would like but don’t necessarily need, like more vinegar for cleaning (I still have over half a gallon), coffee, which is a would-like-very-much-but-don’t-absolutely-need, and ground beef, which is expensive and not the healthiest meat out there.

7) Cross off like-not-need things if total cost is over budget. I might end up being able to get them anyway, if I come under-budget with the necessary things..

This week, after adding up my grocery list, I came out about $50 over budget.  I’ll cross off things like lemonade ($5 for 5 cans), Reese’s Cups (which I was going to use in a dessert but don’t have to, $5), elbow macaroni and Velveeta (Velveeta is expensive, $6), and other things.  I ended up crossing off about $48 worth of items.

Now, most of my crossed-off items probably won’t be as much as I estimated, and the other things on my list probably won’t be as much as I expect.  So I might be able to get a few of the things that I crossed off anyway.  (Coffee is top priority!)

But, the thing is, they’re all non-essentials.  We’ll have plenty of food without them; most of the things I crossed off were “extras.”

8) Take a calculator to the grocery store.  For littler trips, I just add mentally. When I add, I'll round everything up to the nearest 50 cents or so. Then, when I have everything on my list, if I’m under budget at all, I can get some of the “extras”…

and, since I will have rounded up, I’ll still come out under-budget at the cash register!

Maybe I'm weird, but I find this sort of thing fun.  I hate spending money, so anything I can do to save money is great!

It's important to not make saving money all-important, of course.  What's my real reason for doing all this?  Am I honoring God and serving my family?

I think the answer to that is YES.  I'm doing my best to be frugal, to be a good steward of what God has given me, and still to provide good food for my family.

What are your ideas for saving money and time at the grocery store?  I'd love to have you share in the comments!

My All-Purpose Wonder-Cleaner

I wish I remember what blog I first read about using vinegar for cleaning!  Since my first discovery of it a few months ago, I've done a bit of reading into it (and I mean just a little), and a little more experimenting with it myself.

Growing up, the only thing my family really used vinegar-water for was...cleaning up vomit stains from the carpet.  Sorry.  Anyway, it took a while for me to get excited about using vinegar for anything else, because of the smell association!  Vinegar smell had always been associated with vomit smell.  Yuck, I know.  Well, I've gotten over that, and now I've been raving about the wonders of vinegar (combined, fairly often, with baking soda--my second-favorite cleaner) when it comes to cleaning.

source

(And yes, I do usually use Walmart's or another store brand.  It's cheaper!)

Some of these may be ways you use vinegar already.  I hope some of them will be new ideas!  If you have any suggestions I haven't listed, please share them in the comments!  So, without further ado, my top uses for vinegar:

1) All-purpose cleaner.  I mix about half vinegar and half water in a spray bottle and use it all over the bathroom and to sanitize the kitchen counter and table.

2) Toilet bowl cleaner.  Undiluted, a cup-ish in the bowl when I start cleaning, then I swish it out.  One of these days I'm going to drain the bowl, make a paste of baking soda and water, and really get that thing clean.

3) De-scummer on kitchen/bathroom faucets (use with baking soda for best results).  I did this on my kitchen faucet the other day and oh. my. goodness.  It's so shiny now.  The tub faucet is going to get shined up soon!

4) Floor cleaner.  When I scrub the floors (which is on hands and knees, with a rag), I fill a bucket with hot water, add a cup or so of vinegar, and sometimes a few drops of dish soap and a sprinkling of baking powder.  That helps cut dirt and grease better than plain vinegar-water.

5) As a tub cleaner.  Especially when mixed with baking soda, this is an impressive one.  My tub was VERY soap-scummy.  I sprayed it with the vinegar-water to moisten, sprinkled liberally with baking soda (lovely foaming action!  Just like Scrubbing Bubbles, lol), and then used a sponge with a "scrubby" side to it to scour the tub.  I did this barefoot, in shorts and a t-shirt, and used my foot to do a lot of the work.  Saved my back that way, plus my legs are stronger than my arms!  It worked really well.

6) To remove urine stains from toilet.  This goes with being a toilet/all-purpose cleaner, but the vinegar spray, when used with a little baking soda, whitens those spots on the floor by the toilet like a charm.

7) As a window cleaner.  Just plain vinegar-water, rubbed vigorously with a dry cloth, shines windows and mirrors beautifully.  Newspaper also works wonderfully to dry the windows as well!  Something in the ink (and you must use regular newsprint, not magazine-like paper) helps keep the windows from streaking.  Lovely way to recycle, too!

8) To clean the top of the refrigerator.  I don't know about you, but the top of my refrigerator gets covered in a nasty grime from the combination of dust and grease that floats around the kitchen.  Once again, vinegar spray, a hefty sprinkle of baking powder, and a lot of paper towels got it cleaned right up.  (And in case you look askance at me for using paper towels, I'm in the process of (gradually) transitioning to using more rags.  But I don't have my own washing machine yet.)

9) To clean the rest of the refrigerator!  I did a quick wipe-down of mine the other day with just vinegar-water, and it got a lot of grime and gunk out.  The whole fridge needs a more thorough cleaning, but that will come.  Soon. :)

10) Microwave cleaner.  For those of you who use a microwave, this is SO much quicker than anything else.  Put a cup or so of vinegar in a microwave-safe bowl, add some water, and microwave on high until the mixture boils.  Let it sit for a minute or so before you open the door--the fumes will be strong--but then take it out and quickly wipe out the inside.  Scrubbing should be hardly necessary!

11) Drain freshener/de-clogger.  Pour that hot vinegar down the drain when you're done cleaning the microwave!  You can also pour straight vinegar, and then boiling water, down drains.  It doesn't remove all clogs, but it will clean them and freshen up any nasty smells.

12) Sanitize and freshen kitchen dishrags and sponges.  For a while I was using disposable sponges to do my dishes.  I didn't like how, even when well-rinsed, they'd get smelly after just a couple days.  So I tried soaking one in some vinegar for several hours, and that cleaned it enough to give it a longer usage time.

These are the main ways I use vinegar in my home.  What are some of your favorite cleaning tips and tricks?