Works For Me Wednesday- Saving Money on Lunches

It has been quite awhile since I participated in Works for me Wednesday at Rocks in my Dryer but I just have to share this!

When I was reading through the fliers a couple of weeks ago I noticed how much cheaper per pound whole hams were than deli sliced ham, the same is true for chickens, turkey, roast beef etc. It is certainly alot cheaper for us since we buy our meat directly from the farm. So it occurred to me to cook our own meats, slice them up and use them for lunch meat. It is much healthier, less expensive and easy. I just cook it, slice it, leave out enough for a few days and freeze the rest in small freezer bags (portioned for enough for a few days) then I can just pull out packages as we need them.

It works for me! For more ideas please visit Rocks in my Dryer.

Blessings,
Liisa

Lessons Learned

Today I learned two valuable lessons. I decided that I would vacuum out all the vents which I meant to do before we had to turn the furnace on. Lesson one don't procrastinate, lesson two watch littles like a hawk when they have crayons.

When I got to the living room vent I found a lovely and very colorful clump of melted crayons in the pipe artistically sprinkled with cheerios.

I spent several minutes chiseling it out of there and scraping wax off the pipe and vent cover thinking how glad I am that I did not put it off any longer!

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly little monkeys can cause mischief even when you are in the same room with them! ~smile~

I hope you are enjoying your day!

Happy Tuesday!
Blessings,
Liisa

Rememberance Day

Lest we forget.

Preparing Ahead

As much as possible I like to prepare ahead for the things. This really helps me with my house full of little ones. One little thing I do that helps is every morning I set up the playpen that gets taken down each day so that it is ready for nap time and I don't have to wrestle with it when I have a tired little one waiting to get into it.

I also make their lunches in the morning so that all I have to do is warm it up and set it out. Hungry little monkeys are seldom patient!

This goes for the start of the week as well. I like to have the beds changed, the house all clean, baking done and laundry finished on the weekend so that I can start the week with everything fresh and clean and done. I used to have Mondays as my day to change the beds and do laundry but I found that on Mondays the monkeys are a little too wild for me to get much else done which caused me to push those chores back a day, sometimes even two which threw off the rest of the week. Preparing ahead and having all those things looked after makes for a much smoother start to the week and much less stress.

I also like to make my to do list for the next day the night before. This helps me get to sleep because if I don't do this I lie in bed thinking about what I have to get done the next day.

I would love to menu plan but my hubby likes to choose what we will have for dinner the night before. However I can still prepare ahead by making sure that our cupboards are stocked and I have most things on hand that I will need to make dinners. I love to stock up when there is a good sale and we have a pantry cupboard downstairs as well as shelving where we store canned and dry goods. We also have a stand up freezer downstairs which has a quarter beef and half a pig in it as well as several free range chickens. We also have fish frozen that my hubby catches for us. So we are prepared ahead with lots to eat. This may not be possible for everyone but I would encourage you if you are able to purchase your meat in bulk from a butcher shop or right from the farm. Going in with others is a great idea too. You will save so much money though it requires spending quite a bit all at once. I also like to start dinner preparations in the morning - anything I can do ahead so that dinner preparation is easier and less rushed as that is about the time I have little ones getting picked up.

There are so many ways to plan ahead. Shopping sales and second hand store bag sales at the end of the season for clothes and items for next year is another way. When my son was little I was always able to get his snowsuits for the next year at a bag sale at the end of the season or during the winter on sale for the next year. This saved so much money. I also like to pick things up when I see something I know someone will like for their birthday or for Christmas and store it away. You can save alot of money by doing this and spread your shopping out throughout the year thus avoiding big spending in December and possible debt.

I keep a little notebook in my purse with the measurements of my windows, doors etc. so that I am prepared should I find curtains, even a screen door etc. then I will know if I should purchase the item or not - I also carry a small measuring tape. You could also put a dab of the paint in each of your rooms or a paint chip or wallpaper snippet so you will know if an item will match your color scheme.


I like to think about what I can do early in the day to free up more time later on. I am a morning person through and through so that is when I have the most energy and ambition so I try to do everything I can early. ~smile~

Life is so much easier when you prepare ahead. What are some ways you do this?



Happy Monday!
Blessings,
Liisa

Picture above from www.allposters.com

Baby Gift

Here is a picture of what I have been working on lately. A lady in our church is expecting so I wanted to make something for the wee one. I made a baby blanket with a small ruffle around the edges and a hat with booties to match. I really like the yarn it is a natural color cotton with flecks of other colors in it. I didn't have a pattern so they are pretty basic but I hope they like them. ~smile~

Blessings,
Liisa

Quick Project

In my entryway there is a cold air vent in the floor. It had gotten quite neglected and became dusty and rusty. I am quite embarrassed about this since it is right in my entryway and everyone sees it when they come in.

This morning I picked up a little can of gloss black paint at the dollar store and spent a bit of nap time getting that vent fixed up. I can't tell you how much better it looks and what a difference just that small project has made to the overall look of the entryway.

So for one dollar and a bit of time the project is done!

Here are some pictures of the work in progress and finished. Yikes! It was awful wasn't it! So much better now!





Blessings,
Liisa

Being Good Stewards

In this day and age where we are constantly fed images of "perfect" homes and "perfect" lives through the media it is very hard to resist the urge to spend far more than we really need to on things that don't really matter and in reality don't bring us much closer to attaining that "perfect" life. There will always be one more thing, one more must have item.

I am prone to pouring over these pictures of beautiful homes and trying to see what would work in ours. If I am not careful this can lead to a feeling of discontent and longing for more money and more things. That is when I need to step back and be grateful for what I do have. However by reading these magazines and studying ads I know what to be on the look out for in the second hand stores. I have been able to find almost everything I have wanted for our home by being patient and waiting to find a really good sale like our living room rugs that were marked down and then on an unadvertised sale for 75% off the already reduced price or finding it at the second hand store.

Recently I was on the look out for a full length mirror and I found one tucked behind some tables in the second hand store an paid only a fraction of what one would cost new. Now on my list is a swag for over the mirror in my freshly painted entryway.

Another area besides the media that we can get pulled into spending more than we need to is through our friends. Thursday morning my friend told me she was making some cute new winter curtains for her kitchen. This got me to thinking about my valances in my living and dining room. Some of you may remember my post about them. I love them. I was so excited to get them and they are lovely. But when I was talking to my friend and hearing about her new winter curtains I was suddenly not so thrilled with my floral valances with winter coming and I was thinking about how much nicer it would be to have a more wintry pattern that flowers for the coming season. I was still thinking about this when I went out later that day. I found some lovely fabric at the second hand store that would do very nicely and it was only $6 for several metres and was a very good quality fabric with a beautiful pattern. Oh I was tempted but you know even though it fit my criteria of being a really good deal I did not need it. I love my curtains, I was very blessed to get them and they are just fine for year round use. Winter curtains never even occurred to me until I was talking to my friend. I am grateful for what I have and the money I would have spent on new fabric is better spent on things we do need.

I am not saying that we shouldn't talk to our friends about things they are doing to make their homes nicer for their families on the contrary I have been so inspired and encouraged by this and by reading others blogs. I just need to be careful to evaluate the things I do or buy and make sure they are right for us. It is easy to get swept up in the idea that I NEED that or I MUST do that so it is important to step back and evaluate whether it will really benefit my home and my family or whether it is wasting money or time that could be better spent elsewhere.

Blessings,
Liisa

Artwork from www.allposters.com