Vanessa's Values

Blueberry Rhubarb Chia Seed Jam (no refined sugar)

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Thu, 29 Jun 2017 00:22:00 +0000

Here in Maine, rhubarb is the one of the first things that is harvested from the garden in the spring. It can be harvested at about the same time as strawberries can be picked, making strawberry rhubarb desserts very popular here.

We were blessed to be given a lot of rhubarb stalks this year as well as some roots that my father-in-law gave us when he divided his plants. I am looking forward to cutting rhubarb from my garden next spring!

Since rhubarb is very tart, recipes often use a lot of sugar to counter the tartness. As I was looking for ways to use the rhubarb, I stumbled on chia seed jam recipes that used natural sweeteners and chia seeds as a thickener. In this recipe, I used honey, but maple syrup or other sweeteners would also work well. Instead of the traditional strawberry and rhubarb pairing, I used frozen blueberries that we picked last August. The result was a delicious and healthier jam!

Blueberry Rhubarb Chia Seed Jam

1 cup rhubarb
3 cups blueberries
3 tbs. honey
3 tbs. water*
1 1/2 tbs. lemon juice or juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tbs. chia seeds

1. Peel rhubarb and slice thin. Mix rhubarb, blueberries, honey, water, and lemon juice in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

2. Reduce heat and simmer mixture until rhubarb is soft and starts to break up, about 15 minutes.

3. Reduce heat to low and remove pan from heat. Stir in chia seeds and cook and stir on low for 5 minutes. Jam should have a gel-like consistency and will continue to thicken as it cools.

4. Cool completely and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.

*Omit the water if using frozen fruit.

Meal Plan Monday - June 26

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 20:45:00 +0000

Today, my husband and I are celebrating our 13th anniversary! We were able to spend some time together this past weekend to celebrate, but I'm also making one of his favorite meals - Beef Tips with Mushrooms and these Chocolate Malts.

I've had the beef tip recipe for years and consider it a "special occasion" recipe. Since sirloin steak is on sale this week, I knew this would be the perfect recipe to help us celebrate our special day. The chocolate malts recipe is also an old recipe that I haven't made in years. Several weeks ago, my husband mentioned that he would like to have them again and it turns out that ice cream is on sale this week, too! I'm looking forward to surprising my husband with a special meal tonight!

Have a wonderful week!

Breakfast

Cereal
Breakfast sandwiches
Whole Grain Buckwheat Waffles
Scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast with peanut butter or jam
Homemade instant oatmeal with frozen blueberries or banana

Lunch

English muffin pizzas, fruit, carrot sticks
Chicken salad sandwiches, sliced cucumber
Quick Chicken and Corn Wraps, Carrot Fries, fruit
Mini Corn Dog Muffins, sliced cucumbers, green beans
Dinner leftovers

Dinner

Beef tips with mushrooms and rice, corn on the cob, green beans, Chocolate Malts
Skinny Fettuccine Alfredo, chicken, broccoli, carrot sticks
Skillet Cheeseburger Macaroni, green beans
Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet
Chicken Caesar Wraps
Chicken Taco Salad
Oven Baked Fajitas

Get more meal plan ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

Meal Plan Monday - June 19

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 00:10:00 +0000

Last Friday was the last day of school and summer has officially started for our family! I love this time of year, and I can't wait to start picking vegetables from our garden and adding them to our menu.

I've added our lunch menu to my weekly plan. It's not very exciting, but I'm hoping to find some ideas to spice it up a bit. If you have any favorite lunch recipes, I'd love to read them!

Here's our meal plan for this week:

Breakfast

Cereal
Whole wheat toast with peanut butter, banana
Whole Grain Buckwheat Waffles
Scrambled eggs, 1/2 bagel
Homemade instant oatmeal with frozen blueberries

Lunch

Whole wheat noodles with pasta sauce, peas
Chicken salad sandwiches with tomatoes, sliced cucumbers
Grapefruit with Greek yogurt, oats and ground flaxseed
Grilled cheese with caramelized onion and tomato
Chicken Fried Rice
Dinner leftovers

Dinner

One Pot Wonder Chicken Lo Mein
Make-your-own Italian sandwiches
Mexican Chopped Tuna Salad
Chicken Taco Salad
Chicken Cornbread Casserole, broccoli
Sweet Potato Burrito Bowls, broccoli
Super Sloppy Joes with finely chopped onions and carrots, green beans

How I Saved Last Week

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Mon, 29 May 2017 00:58:00 +0000

It's been so nice to see flowers blooming and trees budding after a long winter. We enjoyed the crab apple tree blossoms and lilacs.

It was the perfect weekend to start this year's garden. I planted zucchini, carrots, beets, lettuce, cucumbers, green beans, peas and watermelon and tomato seedlings in the garden.

We were given two 16 oz. bags of mini sweet peppers and several containers of cherry tomatoes and kiwi. We really enjoyed having the fruit and vegetables, since they are things that I don't buy often. I mixed together chopped apples and mandarin oranges with the kiwi and made a fruit salad with honey lime sauce. It was a delicious treat!

I entered free codes on my Kellogg's Family Rewards account for 220 free points. I've been using the points to print $1.00 coupons for Mini Wheats cereal when I see a sale.

I answered a survey for Christian Book Insiders and received a free book download.

We payed extra towards the principle on our mortgage payment.

I signed up for a free online Bible study.

We borrowed books from the library.

I cut the boys' hair.

How did you save last week?

Meal Plan Monday - May 22

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Mon, 22 May 2017 23:08:00 +0000

Last week I did a few price comparisons and noticed that the local health food store actually has lower prices on oats and a few foods that are recommended in The Daniel Plan. Health food stores are often thought of as being expensive, but our local store is able to buy many things in bulk and pass on the savings to its customers.

Oats were only $.70/lb. at the health food store compared to $1.28/lb. I bought both quick oats and old-fashioned oats. Quinoa was $4.62/lb. at Walmart compared to $2.99/lb. at the local health food store. I also bought buckwheat flour, which was pretty pricey at $2.10/lb., but I noticed a buckwheat pancake recipe in The Daniel Plan Cookbook that I really wanted to try. The total I spent on groceries for this week was $82.29, including what I spent at the health food store.

Here's our menu for this week:

Breakfast

Cereal
Bagels, bananas
Omelet, toast with peanut butter
Toast with peanut butter, banana
Whole Wheat Blueberry Waffles
Homemade Instant Oatmeal with frozen blueberries

Dinner

Spaghetti with meat sauce
Maple Mustard Chicken, peas, corn
Mexican Steak Fajitas
Lemon Chicken, green beans, seasoned brown rice
Chicken Stir fry with quinoa
Breakfast for dinner: Buckwheat Buttermilk Pancakes, Quinoa Breakfast Bake, apples slices
Leftovers

Get more meal plan ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

How I Saved This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Sat, 20 May 2017 22:00:00 +0000

I was disappointed to find out that our local Walmart doesn't allow price matching anymore. I was able to price match items from the Dollar General flyer that I couldn't find in the local Dollar General store and it also saved me from making a couple of extra stops when doing the weekly shopping.

We had a few unusually warm days here this week...one day in the 90s! We were able to turn the heat off all week and save on heating oil.

I cooked a chicken in the crockpot and made chicken broth that was used in some of the recipes I made this week.

I took a survey for Christian Book Insiders and received a free book download.

I earned a free $25 Amazon gift card from Swagbucks.

A coworker and I exchanged vegetable plants....she gave me some tomato plants that she had grown, and I gave her some of the pepper plants I started in April. We won't need to buy as many tomato plants this year.

My father-in-law tilled our garden this week and I can't wait to start planting!

We borrowed a movie and several books from the library.

I bought bread at the bread store for $1.03 each.

Meal Plan Monday - May 15

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Tue, 16 May 2017 00:58:00 +0000

Since reading The Daniel Plan, I've been motivated to make some changes to my family's diet. I knew that it would effect our grocery budget, and that we wouldn't be able to afford to make all the changes that are recommended in the book. What we can do, though, is eat as healthy as possible within our budget.

One of the changes that I want to make to our diet is to add more fruits and vegetables and to eat a greater variety. I'm going to try to focus more on nonstarchy vegetables, low-sugar fruits and superfoods. I was able to buy a lot of produce on sale this week. I spent a total of $82.20.

Apples, broccoli and spaghetti squash are all on sale for $.99/lb. this week. A coworker shared this Lemon Chicken and Spaghetti Squash recipe with me and I'm excited to try it this week!

Here's our menu for this week:

Breakfast

Cereal
Whole Wheat Blueberry Waffles with ground flaxseed
Greek Yogurt with oats, grapefruit and honey
Omelet, toast with peanut butter
Homemade Instant Oatmeal with frozen blueberries
Bagels, bananas

Dinner

Mexican Chopped Tuna Salad
Spaghetti with alfredo sauce, peas
Roast Chicken Tacos with Creamy Chipotle-Lime Sauce*, green beans
Chinese Chicken Salad with Creamy Ginger-Orange Dressing*
Lemon Chicken and Spaghetti Squash, broccoli
Meatloaf Veggie Muffins, green beans, corn
Leftovers

*recipe from The Daniel Plan Cookbook

Meal Plan Monday - May 8

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Tue, 09 May 2017 00:20:00 +0000

I had a big grocery shopping trip for this week and spent around $100. I was expecting the increase in the cost of groceries since reading The Daniel Plan and deciding that I wanted to make some changes in our diet.

I bought some different fruits and vegetables and I bought grapeseed oil and olive oil (two oils recommended in The Daniel Plan) that I found on clearance. The oils are much more expensive than the cooking oil that I had been using and I was pleasantly surprised to find them on clearance.

Apples were on sale for $.99. I bought a lot of them and have been eating one in the afternoon for a snack when I normally have a craving for something sweet.

These eggs were on clearance for just $1 each! The regular price is over $3 a dozen.

Here's our meal plan for this week:

Breakfast

Cereal
Plain Yogurt with Muesli and blueberries
Omelet or scrambled eggs, toast with peanut butter
Hard boiled egg, banana
Bagel, banana
Homemade Instant Oatmeal with blueberries

Dinner

Chicken Caesar Wraps, carrot and cucumber sticks
Lemon Chicken, Broccoli, French Onion Soup
Crockpot Beef and Veggie Stew, biscuits
Pizza with whole wheat crust, salad
Hamburgers, Potato Wedges, peas
Chicken Noodle Soup, leftover biscuits
Chicken Taco Salad, cucumber sticks

How I Saved This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Sun, 07 May 2017 01:58:00 +0000

It has been a very wet spring so far, but I did manage to get some rhubarb, that we were given, planted during a break in all the rain.

We received six free LED light bulbs from Efficiency Maine.

I made a birthday card with card stock and punches that I had on hand.

We paid extra towards the principle on this month's mortgage payment.

Our library didn't have a book I was looking for, but I was able to get it through the free inter library loan program.

I earned over 500 sb on swagbucks.com.

I found a great deal on eggs this week! I was very happy to find large, brown, cage-free eggs for just $1.00 per dozen.

I bought bread at the bread store for $1.03 per loaf.

I came across this post from BecomingMinimalist and really liked the financial advice that was given.

How did you save this week?

What I'm Reading: The Daniel Plan and The Daniel Plan Cookbook

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Sat, 06 May 2017 19:24:00 +0000

I've had some nagging health issues that seemed to get worse this past winter and I started to wonder if I could change my health by changing my diet. I started reading books and researching online, but I was discouraged with the conflicting information and the very strict diets that I found. I was very encouraged when I came across The Daniel Plan. It is a plan that is meant to help people make lasting changes and seems to be a good fit for me and my lifestyle.

The Daniel Plan takes a different approach from other books on this topic. It doesn't just focus on food, but includes four other aspects of our lives that we can change in order to live a healthier lifestyle. The five main topics are Faith, Food, Fitness, Focus and Friends.

Since I really wanted to read this book to learn more about healthy eating, I've focused mostly on the Food chapter and only skimmed through the other topics. The chapter on Food is the longest chapter in the book and is full of helpful information that is written in a way that the average person can understand. The chapter (and the whole book) is full of inspiring stores and tips that are encouraging and make a healthier lifestyle seem doable.

The Daniel Plan teaches a whole foods approach to eating with a philosophy that made me chuckle the first time I read it:

"If it was grown on a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, leave it on the shelf."

The book also includes many eye-opening facts about our modern-day health and the food we eat that were very motivating.

Consider this fact:

"Hunter-gatherer populations consumed about 22 teaspoons of sugar a year; now the average American consumes 22-30 teaspoons of sugar every single day. In 1800, the average person consumed 5 pounds per year; now we average 152 pounds a year....The average 20-ounce soda has 15 teaspoons of sugar."

I've known for a while that I need to cut back on sugar in my diet and reading this was definitely the motivation I needed!

I've also found some great recipe ideas in The Daniel Plan Cookbook. The first section of the cookbook has a lot of information including how to get started, foods to avoid, food substitutions, reading labels and much more. I liked that the authors used every day ingredients in their recipes instead of fancy ingredients that might be hard to find in my area. I think my children would even eat many of the recipes, which in my opinion is the true test of a great cookbook!

I'm planning on making changes slowly and hopefully introduce some changes to my family as well. You will probably notice some different foods and recipes in the Meal Plan Monday posts over the next few months as I experiment with new foods and recipes.

If you've read this book and followed the eating plan, I would love to hear about your experience!

Meal Plan Monday - May 1

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Mon, 01 May 2017 22:23:00 +0000

I surprised myself and spent only $60.53 on groceries for this week.

I really like the advice that Stacy of Humorous Homemaking shared about budgeting for groceries. You can watch the video on her Facebook page.

Here's our menu for this week:

Breakfast

Cereal
Bagels, banana
Scrambled eggs, toast
Homemade granola
Homemade Instant Oatmeal with frozen blueberries

Dinner

One Pot Wonder Chicken Lo Mein
Lemon Chicken, green beans, biscuits
Maple Mustard Baked Chicken Thighs, brown rice, peas
Chicken Stir Fry, brown rice
Tuna Noodle Casserole, salad
Skinny Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo, carrot sticks
Pasta Salad, biscuits

What are you cooking this week?

Meal Plan Monday - April 24

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 00:47:00 +0000

Our menu for this week:

Breakfast

Cereal

Smoothies

Homemade granola

Bagel and banana

Homemade Instant Oatmeal with frozen blueberries

Dinner

Chicken Caesar Wraps, carrot sticks

Baked Ravioli, peas, biscuits

Baked chicken, Brussels sprouts, seasoned brown rice

Meatloaf Veggie Muffins, peas

Chicken Yakisoba

Oven Baked Fajitas, green beans, roasted sweet potatoes

Leftover night and/or salad

How I Saved This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 17:14:00 +0000

Spring is one of my favorite seasons. It's been so exciting to see the snow disappear and to see the green grass again! The daffodils and irises have come up and we noticed that the garlic I planted in the garden last fall has started to grow.

It's also time to start getting ready for planting. I have some peppers growing in an old produce container that I saved last year.

The May/June issue of Eating Well magazine came in the mail this week. I was able to get this subscription for free by using points I earned from Recyclebank.

I bought a copy of The Maker's Diet for $.50 from a local second hand store (similar to Goodwill).

I bought Mini Easter notebooks and 12-packs of Easter pencils that were on clearance at Walmart for $.49 each. I will put them in the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes that we do this year.

I cooked a chicken and made broth in the crockpot with the whole chicken that I got on sale for $.88/lb.

We borrowed two movies and several books from the library.

How did you save this week?

How We Saved on a Family Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 19:25:00 +0000

At the end of March, our family spent a week in St. Augustine, Florida. I never dreamed that a big vacation like this would be possible for us and I was hesitant to agree to the trip, knowing how much money we would be spending. After many weeks of discussion, my husband convinced me that this was an amazing opportunity for our family that we should take advantage of while we had the chance.

One of the reasons I was able to agree to this trip was because I knew that we were in a good financial situation:

We were able to pay cash.
We have no debt, except for our mortgage.
Our emergency fund is well funded and can cover several months of expenses, if needed.

After we decided to go on the trip, my husband searched the internet to find the best deal on a place to stay. He found a nice 2-bedroom condo in a community with free access to the beach, a pool, a patio area for barbecuing, a tennis court and the kids' favorite - shuffle board. Our condo wasn't fancy, but we had more than the necessities, including wi-fi and a washer and dryer, for less than the cost of a hotel room here in our area.

It was a little surprising to discover that almost nothing was free, but considering the part of Florida that we were in, we should have expected that. Here at home, you can visit the Portland Lighthouse and many forts for free, so it was disappointing that there was a charge to visit the lighthouse and fort, and the cost was very high. The agency that we rented the condo from did give us a free adult ticket to one attraction of our choice, so we did use that along with a AAA discount to visit one attraction.

Instead of paying to visit the attractions, we spent a lot of time at the beach and we used the pool. We used the patio area and enjoyed a barbecue one night with family who had gone on the trip with us.

My husband and I spent an afternoon walking around beautiful downtown St. Augustine.

Our family went on a mini site-seeing tour of our own and saw some beautiful views.

Here are some of the other ways were were able to save on our vacation:

We drove instead of flying.
We didn't stop on the way to stay in a hotel. (I would not recommend this. Sometimes it is better to spend the extra money. 😃)
We brought snacks and drinks with us so that we didn't have to buy them at convenience stores along the way.
We heard that meat was expensive, so we brought some with us.
I made homemade instant oatmeal packets for breakfasts.
We were told that the Publix there was the best place to get groceries, so I checked the website for sales and checked blogs for coupon matchups before we left.
We ate most of our meals at the condo.
We were pleasantly surprised to find coupon booklets for local restaurants in the condo. We used a coupon to buy dessert at a frozen yogurt bar.

We did splurge on a trip to Disney while we were there. We were only about 2 hours from Orlando, so we spent a day at Magic Kingdom. I'll admit we spent a lot of money to do this, but it was something we really wanted to do with the kids and we were prepared for the cost.

I am so glad that our family was able to share this experience. I absolutely loved St. Augustine and didn't want to leave at the end of the week! It was a trip that I will remember forever and, hopefully, will be able to experience again someday.

Meal Plan Monday - April 17

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 00:11:00 +0000

I spent a total of $88.25 on groceries for this week.

Hannaford had a great sale on produce last week. I bought the big bags of onions and carrots that were on sale, even though I wasn't planning on buying them for this week.

We are very excited that school is on break this week. Since I will have more time in the morning, I'll be making more homemade breakfasts and I've also added our lunch menu.

Breakfast

Cereal
Banana Blueberry Flax Smoothies
Blueberry Pancakes
Breakfast Sandwiches
Homemade Instant Oatmeal with frozen blueberries
Homemade granola with bananas

Lunch

Tuna salad with veggies (lettuce, baby spinach, cucumbers)
Chicken sandwiches with veggies, apple slices
Chicken Fried Rice, salad
Yogurt, Triscuits, carrot and cucumber sticks with hummus
Whole Wheat Apple Oatmeal Muffins, hard boiled eggs, carrot and cucumber sticks with hummus
Dinner leftovers x2

Dinner

Beef Stew
Mexican Chopped Tuna Salad
Spaghetti and meatballs with Heart Healthy Pasta Sauce, green beans, homemade garlic bread
Vegetable Barley Soup, cornbread muffins
Chicken Cornbread Casserole
Meatloaf Veggie Muffins, seasoned brown rice, green beans
Leftover night and/or salad

Get other meal plan ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

Meal Plan Monday - April 10

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 22:52:00 +0000

We spent last week recovering from our trip and taking care of something that came up unexpectedly, but I'm glad to be back to posting here this week.

I spent $74.43 on groceries for this week.

I price matched the cereal from the Dollar General ad and paid just $1.53 per box. I also price matched the Mrs. Dash seasoning for $2 and the butter for $3. I thought the butter was a good deal until I saw an even better deal in this week's Hannaford flyer. I think I will be buying more butter this week, since it is fairly expensive here. I found some discounted Italian bread that I will use to make garlic bread.

I also bought 4 loaves of bread at the discount bread store for $.50 each.

Here's my meal plan for this week:

Breakfast

Cereal
Homemade granola
Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets with blueberries

Dinner

Baked Ravioli, broccoli
Zippy Shepherd's Pie, garlic bread
Chicken Noodle Soup
Beef Stew, Yogurt Biscuits
Sweet Potato Chili, leftover yogurt biscuits
Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole, garlic bread, peas

Meal Plan for this Week

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 21:26:00 +0000

I spent $83.30 for this week's groceries. Some of the things that I bought for this week are for our vacation next week.

The Cheerios were $1.50 each after the sale and coupon at Hannaford. Whole chicken was on sale for $.77/lb. I bought an extra chicken that I will cook in the crockpot, take the meat off the bone and take with us on our vacation. We've heard that meat is expensive there, so we will take some meat with us in order to save a little bit of money.

One of my children used their "choose a cereal" Christmas coupon and chose the Krave cereal. I used a $1.00 off 1 coupon that I purchased with reward points at kelloggsfamilyrewards.com. Since we have a busy week, I bought spaghetti sauce and macaroni and cheese. The boys were especially happy to have macaroni and cheese since it is a rare treat. I also bought the applesauce cups for our trip.

This cereal was on sale at Food City for $2.50 and with a $.75 coupon (that was doubled) I paid just $1.00 each!

I also bought 3 loaves of bread for $3.09 at the bread store.

Since we will be leaving for our vacation on Friday, this week's menu plan is a short one. I will be planning our meals and grocery shopping while we are away and I'm hoping to share how we did with meal planning and grocery shopping when we return. I am really excited to see how prices compare in a different part of the country.

Here's our meal plan for this week:

Breakfast

Cereal
Homemade Instant Oatmeal with frozen blueberries
Homemade Granola

Dinner

Monday: Dinner out with my mom
Skillet Cheeseburger Macaroni
Sweet Potato Chili, broccoli
Pizza with Overnight Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (from the freezer)
Friday: Dinner on the road!

Check back in two weeks to find out more about our trip and how we were able to save money.

How I Saved This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 21:22:00 +0000

A friend shared a turkey with us last week. I made turkey broth and used the leftover turkey and the broth in many of the meals I made this week. The Leftover Turkey Shepherd's Pie recipe that we tried this week is a new family favorite! You can see more of our family's favorite recipes on my Pinterest board.

The boys borrowed some books from the library and I found some coupons I could use in the coupon exchange box.

We got mail from the Disney Movie Club that included Disney stickers. I saved the stickers for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.

I found a baby dress crochet pattern online at Annie's Craft Store that I would like to make for a baby shower that I am going to next month. I usually like to look for free patterns, but I couldn't find anything that I liked. I signed up for a free 7-day trial of the Half-Price Club and I was able to get the pattern for half price and I got $10 in ebucks to spend on a digital download.

I downloaded a free kindle book to the Kindle reading app on my laptop.

There was a festival in a nearby town and we were able to see The Batman Lego Movie at the movie theater for free.

How did you save this week?

What I'm Reading: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Tue, 14 Mar 2017 18:19:00 +0000

I was excited to find Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up at the library since I had read great things about this book.

It's a tiny book full of wonderful tips and information about decluttering and organizing your home. While I found her references to treating items as living things a little disconcerting at first, I thought that the different perspective that the author gives on this subject was interesting and thought-provoking.

I have read lots and lots of books, magazine articles and blog posts about organizing and decluttering. Every year, right after Christmas, you can find me going through each room in our home and trying to organize and declutter the same things I organized and decluttered the year before. I thought this would be just another book that would give me the same information in a different way. But that was definitely not the case. Right from the first page, the author throws all the accepted organizing rules right out the window. Her advice on organizing by category, instead of by room, what to throw away and even how to fold clothing was different from anything I had read before.

One of the most eye-opening things I read was the advice the author gave about the greetings cards we can't bear to part with. She writes:

"This means that each card has fulfilled its purpose the moment the receiver finishes reading it."

This advice freed me of the guilt I feel when thinking about throwing away a card or letter. I realized that I don't need to feel guilty because I have received the message that the sender wanted me to have. She goes on to say that we should keep cards that "spark joy" in our hearts, a recurring theme in her book.

For me, organizing and decluttering has always been a tug of war between my frugal self and my minimalist self. I hate to let anything go that might be used in the future and might save us money months from now. This quote from the book was especially thought-provoking:

"Of course, I am not saying that my clients have never regretted discarding something. Far from it. You should expect this to happen at least three times during the tidying process, but don't let it worry you. Even though my clients have regretted parting with something, they never complain. They have already learned through experience that any problem caused by lack of something can be solved through action."

I don't need to let the fear of regret stop me from letting go of something. If I do find myself in that situation, I can take action and challenge myself to find something else that I could use or find some other way to solve the problem.

Two other quotes from the book that challenged me:

"But when we really delve into the reasons for why we can't let something go, there are only two: an attachment to the past or a fear for the future."

"...we should be choosing what we want to keep, not what we want to get rid of."

I really enjoyed the new ideas and insight into organizing and decluttering that I learned from this book. Now the hard part begins: putting the ideas into practice.

Meal Plan Monday - March 13

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 20:56:00 +0000

We spent $66.57 on groceries for this week.

I didn't buy any meat for this week since a friend shared a turkey with us. I will be using the leftovers with the turkey broth that I made in some of our meals this week. I will also use some meat that we have in the freezer and some of the tuna that I bought for $.88 a few weeks ago.

Here's my menu plan for this week:

Breakfast

Cereal
Blueberry Cottage Cheese Pancakes
Toast or bagel and bananas
Homemade Instant Oatmeal with frozen blueberries

Dinner

Turkey Bisque Soup
Skillet Lasagna, salad
Taco Salad, cucumber and carrot sticks
Mexican Chopped Tuna Salad Wrap, carrot sticks
Leftover Turkey and Swiss Grilled Sandwiches, carrot sticks
Spaghetti with Heart Healthy Pasta Sauce
Leftover Turkey Shepherd's Pie

Get more meal plan ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

Meal Plan Monday - March 6

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 21:39:00 +0000

I spent $71.16 on groceries for this week.

I bought extra bananas since they were on sale for $.39/lb. Chicken thighs were also on sale for $.77/lb. and the bag of potatoes was $1.49.

At Walmart I was able to price match the yogurt for $.50 each, but I used a coupon and paid $.40 each. I also price matched the Jiffy mix for $.44 and the Goldfish for $.99. I bought the Goldfish for a vacation trip that we are taking at the end of this month. I would like to take a lot of snacks and drinks with us so that we won't need to buy as much as we are traveling.

Cottage cheese was on sale for $1.50 at Food City. I used coupons and paid just $.95 each.

Here's my meal plan for this week:

Breakfast

Cereal

Bagels, bananas

Homemade Instant Oatmeal with frozen blueberries

Low Sugar Lemon Blueberry Muffins, bananas or oranges

Dinner

One-Pot Cabbage Casserole (using leftover cabbage from last week), peas and carrots

Roasted Lemon Chicken Thighs and Potatoes, carrot sticks

Baked Chicken Thighs, green beans, cucumber sticks

Chicken Cornbread Casserole

Irish Beef Stew, Yogurt Biscuits

Leftover night

Saturday: Turkey Dinner, Honey Yeast Rolls, Apple Pie

Get more meal plan ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

Meal Plan Monday - February 27

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 21:47:00 +0000

I spent $78.71 on groceries for this week.

At Hannaford, broccoli was on sale for $.99/lb., grapes were $1.49/lb. and cabbage was $.49/lb.

At Walmart, I price-matched the tuna for $.88 each, the granola bars for $2.50 and paid $2.00 each with a coupon and the yogurt was $.50 and I paid $.43 each after a coupon. The Nutella was on sale and I had a coupon, so I bought it for a special treat for the boys.

Split chicken breasts were on sale at Food City for $.99/lb. and the Mini Wheats cereal was $1.99 with the sale price and coupon.

I also bought bread at the bread store.

We'll be trying a couple of new dinner recipes this week. Here's my meal plan for this week:

Breakfast

Cereal

Bagels and bananas

Homemade Instant Oatmeal with frozen blueberries

Dinner

Vegetable Barley Soup, Yogurt Biscuits

Chicken Fried Rice, broccoli

Chicken Yakisoba

Skillet Cheeseburger Macaroni, broccoli

Cheese Steak Quesadillas, carrot sticks

Tuna Casserole, leftover yogurt biscuits

Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo, carrot sticks

Get more meal plan ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

How I Saved This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Sun, 26 Feb 2017 00:13:00 +0000

I cooked a whole chicken in the crockpot and made overnight chicken stock. I used the chicken and the stock in several of the meals that I made this week.

I had a chance to shop at Goodwill this week during one of their Dollar Days and found a name brand pair of jeans and a pair of pants for $1 each.

I ordered two magazines with points I earned from Recyclebank.

The cost of our satellite tv service increased again for the second year in a row. When I called to cancel, they offered a promotional rate for 6 months with no new contract. The new rate will save us a little over $15 a month and is about the same amount that we were paying when we switched to satellite tv five years ago.

How did you save this week?

Meal Plan Monday - February 20

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 01:18:00 +0000

It has been a very busy weekend and I haven't been able to do all the grocery shopping for this week. So far I have spent $46.06 on groceries.

The chicken was on sale for $.99/lb. I cooked the whole chicken in the crock pot yesterday and made overnight chicken stock in the crock pot. I will be using the chicken and stock in many of our meals.

This week I am adding a lunch menu, since our schools are on February break. Here's our meal plan for this week:

Breakfast

Cereal

Homemade granola

Homemade Instant Oatmeal with frozen raspberries and blueberries

Plain yogurt with frozen raspberries (leftover from our Valentine's Day dessert), blueberries and granola

Blueberry Pancakes

Bagels and bananas

*The raspberries that we are using this week are the frozen raspberries that weren't used in our Valentine's Day dessert. The boys have enjoyed having them in their oatmeal and our younger son decided he wanted to try them with some of the plain yogurt that I use to make yogurt biscuits.

Lunch

Chicken salad sandwiches

English Muffin Pizzas

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Mac & Cheese

Dinner leftovers

*All lunches served with veggies and/or fruit

Dinner

Sweet Potato Chili, Yogurt Biscuits

Super Sloppy Joes, carrot sticks

Chicken Noodle Soup, leftover biscuits

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Quesadillas, carrot sticks

Chicken and Rice Soup

Chicken Corn Chowder

Saturday: Community Dinner

Get other meal plan ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

14 Days of Valentines: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa) — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 22:05:00 +0000

For Valentine's Day this year, I am giving my husband a note and/or small gift each day starting February 1. I've tried to do find things that are meaningful to him to let him know how much I appreciate everything that he does for our family.

I've had a lot of fun with this project and intend to continue surprising my husband with little notes and gifts throughout the whole year!

If you missed part 1, you can read it here.

Day 8: Soap note on mirror

I used a bathtub soap crayon to write a note to my husband on the bathroom mirror where he would see it in the morning.

Day 9: Origami Hearts

My husband likes to tell us jokes and riddles, so for day 9 I made origami hearts and wrote Valentine's jokes on them. The hearts also have a little pocket for little treats or a note. I found the tutorial for the hearts here.

Day 10: Carrot Hearts

My husband takes carrot sticks to work everyday in his lunch. On day 10, I made carrots into the shape of hearts following this tutorial.

Day 11: Heart Pancakes

I made pancakes shaped like hearts using metal cookie cutters on an electric griddle.

Day 12: "I heart you" tag with candy hearts

I filled a treat bag with candy hearts and attached the free printable tag.

Day 13: Scratch off valentine card

I printed the card for free from from marthastewart.com. I applied scratch off paint using the directions from this site.

Day 14: Sticky note love notes

Instead of a traditional Valentine's Day card, I stuck 14 sticky notes with handwritten notes on them on the wall in the entryway where he will see them when he gets home from work.