It's going to be a busy week!

Well it's a rainy and cold day up here in New York state today. What better day to get a lot of things accomplished inside.

First up on my to-do list is a meal plan. My husband will be starting his new job tomorrow after being laid off for more than a year. We're really happy that he found something, but it also means we need to start following a more strict schedule and plan everything out. The first two weeks he will be on first shift and then will be on second. What I plan to do is utilize my crock pot during the week. The night before I will cut everything up and have it all ready to go in, so that I can just throw it all in each morning. I will also need to plan lunches for the little ones since they will be going to the sitter during the day for the first two weeks (will mostly be sandwiches or mac n cheese, with a fruit and/or a veggie). I plan on giving the sitter an extra $5 to cover the milk they will drink. So, here is my meal plan for the week:

Sunday -not sure yet (leftover chicken from yesterday)
Monday - chicken n cornbread dumplings (crock pot), veggie, pudding or jello
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday -ham (crock pot), stuffing, veggie
Thursday - breakfast for dinner
Friday - turkey breast (crock pot)
Saturday - spaghetti, homemade bread (bread machine), green beans

Now that I've got that done, there is still plenty of things that need to get done today:

• I need to go through my coupon binder and clean it out. After my husband goes to the store and gets me a paper I will also have to cut out and add those coupons to my binder. I already looked at the sales at Tops and they're really bad, so I guess I will just get exactly what we need for the week. No stock-up shopping this week.
  
• For my database class I need to finish reading the chapter and take the quiz. For my C++ class I need to rework 2 lab programs and work on reading the next chapter. I also need to see how many weeks I actually have and schedule time to get all the work done.
• Laundry. Mine and the kids clothes needs to be washed and I also need to wash a load of towels. I really should do up a laundry schedule so I am not trying to do it all on Sunday.
• There is at least one more load of dishes that need to be washed. Maybe I can get hubby to work on those this afternoon. One can hope!!!
  

I am sure there are tons of other things that need to get done, but it won't be happening today. I will be lucky if I get all that done, especially since I don't feel well. My little girl gave me her illness. :( So I may need to add a nap to that list too, lol.

I am hoping everything goes semi-smoothly this week. If you have any suggestions on how to make the transition better, I would love to hear them.

It's Been Rough Around Here

Since starting work a few months ago, I have really been slacking in the coupon clipping category. I'm lucky if I get the coupons even clipped each week, never mind getting them organized in my binder. I also haven't made getting all the best deals a priority. I just don't seem to have enough time. Why couldn't there be more hours in a day? I just haven't been interested in running to Rite Aid or Walgreens to get the good deals. I still cut out the ones I think I will need, but mostly I am using them at Tops, Target and Walmart.

We have been really bad when it comes to eating out lately. My husband is still laid off so he's the one who cooks dinner during the week. Unfortunately he has not been doing this like he should. Not only are we spending a lot by eating out but we are not eating the best foods for us. My plan for this weekend is to do up a meal plan for the week for him, because obviously he needs one and won't do one for himself. I would also like to cook up some foods to stick in the freezer. I am thinking some macaroni and cheese with broccoli and chicken, pizza crust, homemade bread, and maybe some chili.

We have also been slacking in the cleaning area. On the weekends it just seems like I am cleaning all the time. Lots of laundry and dishes, and I never seem to get caught back up. I need to somehow make the essential cleaning a priority for my husband. I don't know exactly how to do that. I am thinking that maybe if I start saying I'm not going anywhere until certain things get done, that might work. Any ideas?

I really need to get things under control, before the holidays and before my classes start in spring. I have an independent study and an online class, and the one is going to be quite a challenge and take up a lot of my free time. Of course, after that I will be graduating and will not have to do this whole working and going to school thing. I can't wait. If you have any ideas on how I can get things in order, please live it in the comments.

Stockpile and Strawberries

Stockpile Reorganization

Something must have been wrong with me today. LOL. I was in an organizing/cleaning frenzy. I organized my two cupboards where I keep some of my stockpile. Then I folded and put away a whole mess-load of clothes, washed a load of dishes (by hand - how I wish we had a dishwasher), washed another load of clothes and a load of towels. Since my stockpile cupboards look so good I thought I would share pictures of them with you.



In the first picture on the left hand side, is all our cereal, my 2-liters of Pepsi, syrup, oatmeal canisters and other larger foods that do not fit on my shelves. The middle picture is the left side of my closet. It has all kinds of HBA products: toothpaste and tooth brushes, shampoo, conditioner, mouth wash, body wash, deodorant, razors and more. The last picture, the one on the right, is the right side of the closet and containers all my cleaning supplies.

I have more stockpile than this of course. I have 2 shelves full of canned goods and bottles. I have a stockpile of paper towels (this is a necessity in my house because of the little ones) above my cabinet in the kitchen and I usually have at least one package in the basement. Most of my boxed goods are upstairs in a cabinet. I will be organizing all these again, and also organizing my linen closet this week. I will try to remember to take pictures of my stockpile when I am done so I can share them with you. I will also be cleaning out my freezer and upright freezer and trying to eat up the stuff that has been in there for a while.

Strawberries Galore

My husband's grandmother bought a huge bin full of local strawberries today and gave us a whole bunch of them. I just have to say that these were the juiciest and tastiest strawberries I have ever had. YUMMY!! She gave us at least 4 pounds, so I will be making strawberry shortcake either tonight or tomorrow. I usually just make a regular white or yellow cake, but I may try biscuits this time. I have Cool Whip in the freezer that I bought last month for $.50.

Hope you have a wonderful night and a great Friday. TGIF!!

Busy Busy Tuesday

Garden Update

This weekend we did a lot of planting. Yesterday we put in our tomato and pepper plants and planted some squash. We have quite a bit of room left, but only have pumpkin seeds to plant. So, we now have beans, cucumbers, lots of lettuce and broccoli, corn, carrots, peas and onions planted. Anyone have any suggestions on what else we can plant? We have quite a bit of room left. No planting today... dreary and rainy out!


Spring Cleaning - A Little Late. LOL

So, today we have been cleaning. Well, actually I have been cleaning. LOL. While hubby was in the living room with the kids, I cleaned the bathroom from top to bathroom. When I am done posting on here, I need to get my kitchen cleaned. I would love to get that room cleaned from top to bottom today also.

There's a lot of organizing to be done too. Five of us living in this 2 1/2 bedroom apartment just doesn't work well. I constantly have to reorganize cabinets and other spaces to maximize our organization to make this place work for us, at least for now. The worst part is that I organize a cabinet and a few months later it is a mess again, because people don't put things back where I had them. I even label shelves using my label maker and they still don't put them in the right spot. GGGRRRRrrr!!


Job Hunt Update

So, as many of you know, my husband was laid off in March. Since then both him and I have been looking for work. Unfortunately there really is nothing out there for him right now. He looks everyday but no one is really hiring machinists right now. There has been quite a few jobs out there that I could do, so I have been sending my resumes to a lot of jthem. If I had to guess I would say that have sent in at least 30 resumes in the last month. Unfortunately, I only got calls for an interview from two of them, and didn't get hired for either.

I try to keep optimistic, but also in the back of my mind I know that in September we will no longer be able to pay all our bills because we will be out of extra money. This includes using our savings to pay bills. The unemployment benefit just isn't enough to cover all our expenses.


Birthday Party Planning
I have been doing things to reduce how much we spend though. This week I didn't go and get groceries, because we are trying to eat out of our pantry and freezer for a while. I will have to get a few things later this week because our oldest son is celebrating his 11th birthday. We're having a cookout for his birthday, so we need to go get ground meat, rolls, plates, cups, etc. I am making the cake and we already bought the ice cream (on sale for $3 and had coupon that doubled to $1.50 so they were only $1.50 each half gallon). I would also like to make something else for the party but I haven't decided what yet. It should turn out to be a pretty good birthday party for him even though we don't have a lot of extra money this year.