Food Prep

It is no secret I have been trying to save money this year.  My savings projects are going well. I am right on track with my 52 week savings plan and we all know my $5 project got a nice boost.

Cooking with fresh ingredients combined with my pantry is going well. We have cut our ordering out down to once a month and eating out by 75%. When we do go out to eat we try to make it a really big deal. Keely still gets her Monday Happy Meal after aqua therapy that is her reward for working hard. Saving at the grocery store is going well. Coupons combined with Ad Match is saving me $50-$75 from my bill each trip. I have been using my slow cooker quite a bit. One of the things about the slow cooker I hate is having to cook something on the stove before adding it to the slow cooker... My solution to that is precook and freeze. The biggest offender in this pet peeve is ground beef. So now I will buy 10 pounds of ground beef and cook it in 5 pound batches. I then pour the cooked ground beef into my over the sink strainer to let it drain and cool. (this also allows me to buy ground beef with a higher fat content = cheaper and not have to worry about the extra fat getting into my food) Once it has cooled I bag it in 1 pound portions and freeze them. I can get 7 portions out of 10 pounds of ground beef.

Another way I try to save a little is to buy my chicken with the bones still in it.   I don't cook with a lot of breast meat but when I buy it that is always boneless and skinless.  I can cut them into cutlets, tenders and nuggets but deboning a breast with all those ribs... my butchering stills are not that good.  However, I do use a lot of chicken thighs.   They are purchased with the bone and skin still intact.  I get my bulk package home and debone and remove the skin.  I then wrap them individually and freeze them in a zip bag.  I can then portion out what I need when I need it. The skin and bones are then frozen to add to the pot when I make my chicken stock. (Another money saving enterprise.) 

Sometimes I wonder if all this is really saving me money.  I am not working right now, so my job is to work at ways to cut costs and save money in my household.  

Last night I used some of my chicken to make Quick Chicken Marsala.  I used Campbell's Skillet Sauces Marsala packet.  (I got a great deal with my coupons plus I hit a sale.) 

Quick Chicken Marsala

1 pound Chicken Thighs

1/4 cup flour

2 tablespoons butter

1 package Campbell's Skillet Sauces Marsala 

Dredge chicken in flour and saute in butter until chicken is browned.  Stir in sauce and heat to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes until chicken is cooked through. 

Serve with sides of your choosing.  Pasta, rice or potatoes are all nice and the Marsala sauce tastes wonderful over any of them. 

Tiny Visitors

I found little visitors in my basement today.

I went down to start a load of laundry and get our dinner out of the freezer (stuffed flounder). There sitting on the little rug in front of chest freezer curled together were two baby mice.  After my initial heart attack of surprise and realizing that they were two little living mice and not one large dead mouse.  (It could happen that one might drop a heavy laundry basket on the floor and have it land on a mouse.)

They did not try to run.  They just lay there curled around each other.  I scooped them up with two little storage bins (speaking of storage bins, the Secret Shame Project is still working it is just more slow going because I got a delivery of over 1000 boxes of girl scout cookies the next day, which has taken residence in my back room.)  Matt just happened to come back to the house for something and I showed them to him.  He wanted to throw them away.  I could not bring myself to do it.  They are alive.

I checked all over the house and basement for any signs of mice and can't find any.  No droppings no nests, nothing chewed through in my pantry or basement. It seems so random to me that they were just sitting there in the middle of the floor.

I brought them upstairs and gave them residence in a medium size food container lined with a little burp cloth. All day they girls have been checking on them (did I mention we had a snow day).  Keely calls them "the babies".  I know we can't keep them but it was a nice break from the ordinary.

My Secret Shame

I try to keep up with the clutter in my house.  It makes me shaky when it gets out of control.  I can tell you with 5 girls here everyday and weekends filled with activities it does not take much to get out of control.  I have pretty well ingrained in my all my girls the clean up routine.  Things are put away when they are done playing with them. Everything is put away before the playroom is left.  Snack wrappers are thrown out when empty.  Cups put in the sink when drinks are finished.  Even the baby knows to pick up and throw away.  That is not the problem....

The problem is the day to day clutter that gathers on the counter and kitchen table. Magazines, papers, mail, projects you get the picture.  That all has to go some place before we can eat.  That place has somehow turned out to be my project space.

It is out of sight from visitors.  The kids know not to bother anything in that area and if am careful I can easily avoid it.... It is my hoarders corner, my secret shame.

My little space has gotten to the point where I stand on the one square foot of empty tile, look around, sigh and walk away.  I feel totally overwhelmed by my self created national disaster area.  I don't know where to begin.  Once I do begin, where the heck am I going to put everything.  It is a collection of girl scout materials, beading and paper crafting supplies, shoes AND storage containers.  Empty storage containers so I do have an inkling of an idea as to how I want things to turn out.  

Sunday I bought a set of banker boxes to make a transient item storage center that looks like this.  My boxes will be donate, sell, active projects and return.  I will set these up by the back door so everything is right there as I go out to run an errand and near my project space for when I need to pick up on my active project. 

I have been gathering totes for the storage of my holiday decorations.  Each one is themed for its own holiday.  Winter, Valentines day, St. Patrick's day, Easter you get the picture.  As each holiday passes my decorations have been going right into their respective totes and then down to a designated section of shelves in the basement. 

I am 100% committed to winning the Clutter Battle of 2013.  It is not that I don't have a problem purging (although you would be hard pressed to tell from my secret shame).  In fact I took a huge step last spring and actually got rid of some of Keely's artwork that I have been saving since preschool.  Wipe those looks of horror off your faces.  I kept anything that had a hand/foot print or incorporated a picture of her into it.  It was out of control.  Purging is cathartic.  

I have been looking for ways to keep the clutter at bay once control has been regained.  I am finding out that I have all the tricks in my knowledge base.  Sort your mail by the garbage, recycle magazine as soon as you are done with them. Scan pages you want to save.  Pick up and put away the small things every night.  It is just a matter of putting those tricks into practice and being consistent.  Consistency is my big issue.  

Here is what my dream basement would look like.  If I have my way, it will look like this by the end of May. 

My wonderful husband does read this blog, because I don't want to scare him with all the work that will be coming his way, I will wait to show you my garage ideas. 

OK, now accountability, I am going to get the secret shame under control this week by Friday I will have update pictures for you all to celebrate with me! 

I Get a Good Feeling!!!

"Ohhohh sometimes, I get a good feeling".  That was the song of the South High Marathon Dance this past weekend.  It is a favorite of Keely's so she was thrilled to watch the dancers at opening ceremonies.  We will forever be connected to the SHMD, they changed our lives and helped give my Beauty a voice.   We were recipients just 2 years ago of this amazing act of charity our high school students have carried out for the last 36 years.

This year our students danced and raised funds to the tune of $489,716!  Let me say that again

FOUR HUNDRED EIGHTY SIX THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED SIXTEEN dollars. 

It astounds me that our small working class community without any large local industry pulls together to get it done.  This community does it again and again, year after year.

This year we finally got some wide spread and long overdue national attention for what our kids do. Huffington Post article

This picture shows the totals raised for the previous four years... nothing to sneeze at either.

The school is open to the public until 10:30pm Friday night and reopens at 6:30am Saturday morning.  There is a snack bar, ice cream sales, face painting, airbrush tattoos, a silent auction, a live auction and raffles including a 50/50.  All of which donate their proceeds back to the dance.

We go to the school and do it all. We purchase merchandise and ice cream.  We bid on the silent auction and buy 50/50 tickets.  This year we had a little marathon magic and I was one of the 15 50/50 raffle winners.  It is nice that they split the pot into prizes of $500 so that more people have a chance to win.  Yes, folks this year the 50/50 brought in a total of $15,000.  $7,500 went to the dance and the rest to prizes.  

Sunday we picked up my prize.  We watched the live feed of closing ceremonies from home on Saturday night so I knew I won! It was all I could do not to run up the school then, but I held off.  So, Sunday, pick up the prize, I opened my envelope and..... 

$5 dollar bills!!!! 20 of them.  

Now if you have been following along you will know that I have been working on my $5 project.  I have been very faithful in my resolution to save every $5 bill I get, and I have not tried to work around by asking for ones as change.  Any five goes right in the envelope... clearly someone is testing my resolve. My total for January and February was 18 fives.  After March 3rd we now have 39 fives.  20 from my raffle and one I got back in change at the hockey game concession that night.