Cleaning!

I feel like I may have posted about this before but after the holidays we've just gotten worse and worse about keeping up with the cleaning. And now that we have a bigger place it's even harder. So a few weeks ago we started discussing making ourselves a cleaning schedule.

Now, it's not like our whole place is a pigsty or anything but the garbages get full much too fast, the table fills up with items we've brought home, dishes and laundry get backed up and sometimes Andrew's toys don't get put away at night so then they are in every nook and cranny. It happens so fast. One minute I'll be thinking "It's fine if we just go to bed tonight, it's not that bad in here. I'll catch up tomorrow." And then boom, there's crap everywhere haha!

SO, the other day I finally typed up a schedule:

I tried to zone things out a bit, and keep it to a minimum each day since often Jesse isn't able to help.

And just to clear it up a bit - often on weekends we have date nights or are gone a lot or just want to relax so sometimes we don't stay on top of chores as we should so that's why I have a "catch-up" day. Cleaning the front door means wiping away dead bugs, cleaning away cobwebs and spraying.

And the spider spray is a homemade recipe: 5 drops dish soap, 5 drops lemon juice or lavender oil and warm water. We spray this once a week because generally the only bugs we see here are spiders. And some of them are quite large and menacing looking :-S

Lastly, our car gets quite messy so we figured having a day to wash, vacuum, take out the garbage bag, organize, wash the car seat cover, etc would be great.

And I am sooooooo excited to get some new furniture for the patio. We're planning on getting a swinging bench (it's really cheap at Winn Dixie), 2 Bed, Bath and Beyond chairs and a smaller version of those chairs for Andrew. I also want a coffee table like thing but I haven't found one yet. But anyways, once that happens, I am going to deep clean the patio. Definitely have to sweep out there at LEAST once a week due to the dirt that gets blown in.

We also are caulking up some cracks on the patio because we have little lizards sneaking in and it freaks me out haha!

Well, that's all for now! TTFN <3

Making a meal stretch

So, we certainly have a lot of blessings in our life but money is not one of those things, haha - and it's fine. We certainly make it work one way or another. A large part of our financial situation has to do with me being a stay-at-home mom and trust me, I rethink the situation at LEAST once a month. Honestly I just fell into it. 

We decided to move to FL the summer of 2012 and basically 2 months before we would be IN Tampa I started applying for jobs. Hubby found work within about 2 months of moving and my mother (who moved down with us) got a job a few months later. I, however, searched for TWO YEARS. Granted since our son was due in December, I stopped applying for the holiday season, but yeah. Two years. At least 3 jobs a month. I emailed, called, applied... and not even a word back from 98% of them. It sucked. 

But after two years I got fed up and asked Jesse what he thought of me just staying at home (I had already been doing that for about a year and a half at that point) and he basically said he thought it sounded fine. He wasn't super enthused, nor was I. 

Now, almost three years into it, neither of us can imagine it differently. I do still look into job openings and think about applying for jobs but until I finish my degree it really just doesn't make much sense. With the cost of daycare what it is I would be making probably under $100 by the end of the month and never see my husband, not to mention hardly seeing my son. Plus we want to have more kids so until I get my degree or can publish my book, etc., it looks like this is what I'll be doing. 

That being said, we definitely have found ways to make things stretch. One of them being meals.

Now, we are fortunate to have a Winn-Dixie nearby. We have a loyalty card there which gets us really great deals, they do have some organic stuff as well as all kinds of baby stuff we use and even has Seventh Generation products which we love. Also, we get fuel rewards points so after a weekly shopping trip, the next time we fill the tank we pay about 20 cents less a gallon or more. So it really pays to shop there.

For me, lunches are the hardest to buy for and plan. I honestly hate the idea of buying food specifically for lunches, I'd rather just eat leftovers. It's not quite as healthy all the time but it certainly helps save money.

If we have tacos for dinner Monday night, I usually make taco omelets (egg, meat, cheese, veggies) Tuesday morning and then taco salads Wednesday for lunch.

Say we have Fettucini Alfredo Thursday night - I will use some of the chicken I made for salads for another night and make chicken alfredo for lunch on Friday. And also I can use another portion of the chicken for a different night and pair it with rice and veggies.

When we buy hot dogs or brats we usually eat them for dinner one night and lunch another day. Often we will grill them for dinner and just boil them for lunch so that mixes the taste up a bit too. 

If I buy stuff for burritos I will usually use any leftover ingredients for breakfast burritos.

Even something like mac and cheese - if we also have leftover hot dogs, we can have mac and cheese for dinner on a night when hubby works and then for lunch I can cut up some hot dogs to go in it as well.

So, if I buy a package of hot dogs, a box of mac and cheese, 2 lbs hamburger, some alfredo sauce (we make our own pasta), tortillas and about 3 or 4 chicken breasts, I usually get more than 7 days of dinners and lunches (with some breakfasts covered as well). And depending on where you buy, that often only adds up to around $30, and for a family of three that's not bad. Now, I also usually buy juice, milk, applesauce, eggs, fruit/veggies and yogurts so that definitely makes the amount go up but for main ingredients it's not bad.

I'm definitely always looking for new ways to use leftovers so it's not the same old boring stuff day after day. And sometimes we don't have leftovers so we have sandwiches or eggs or toast and yogurt or whatever we have in the pantry or fridge. So anyhoo, if you have any other leftover suggestions, let me know!

Hopefully this was a bit interesting and not totally boring, haha! Just wanted to share some of my meal repurposing tips I've learned over the past few years ;)

TTFN <3