Making a List, Checking it Twice

With the announcement of me posting my menu and spending each week, I knew that I had to finally take an inventory of what is in my pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. I thought about what it would look like to make up my own system, called on my creative husband to help me brainstorm something that would work for me, and then he suggested I just look up an inventory list online. Brilliant. So I turned to Google, and she of course was faithful.

I had never made an inventory of my kitchen before, but I'm bringing you all along on my journey. Before I started my commitment to the menu , I wanted to know what I have stockpiled. These are the lists that I found on Google and went with:

(Links: Pantry Inventory, Larder (Refrigerator) Inventory, and Freezer Inventory)

My inventories are now done, and in my kitchen binder (contains grocery ads, old Menu plans, our favorite recipes, and our bi-monthly Costco trip list). My plan is to follow the instructions at the bottom of the list by using a slash mark for each item in the pantry, freezer or fridge, and then each Monday when I clean my kitchen to cross out each item that was used over the week. As I try out this new system I will be sure to let you all know how it goes.

I tried to get this post out early enough so that you all can have a chance, if you want it, to make an inventory in the next couple of days. While I am making the menu tomorrow to share with you all, maybe you could make it a goal of yours to see what you already have on hand? This would also be a great time to gather the foods you know you're not going to eat, or are trying to work out of your diet, and donate them to a local food bank!

Announcement!

There are a few things in life that scare me. Frogs terrify me. If I see a frog you better believe I will be high-kneeing it until I feel I am at a safe distance away. The dark is still scary to me, and my quirkiest, once all-consuming, fear is of my teeth falling out. Strange, I know.

There is one other thing that I should mention that scares me: commitment. My fear of commitment points to my wrestle with selfishness. I struggle with thinking that I may not have the time, energy, resources, and patience to serve and give freely. The second (and third) reasons I fear committing to things is that I don't want to fail and I don't want to let people down. So now that I have exposed a bit of my inward workings, I have good news. I am committing!

Starting Tuesday, November 1st I will be posting my weekly menus on Tuesday nights. The menu will have a link to all of the recipes that I will be making that week. If you live in the Dallas area, this will be great for you because you will be able to use my menu and list as a plan. You will also be able to shop the sales at Sprouts on "Double Ad Wednesdays" (this week and last weeks sale prices are good on Wednesdays). Even if you aren't in the Dallas Metroplex you should still be able to find equivalent deals, because most produce goes on sale when it is in season. Better news, for many of you, is that I will be posting how much money I spent each week and where I shopped. Hopefully this will be an encouraging step towards health.

Our budget is $600 month for food and household items such as garbage bags, toilet paper, laundry and cleaning supplies. If we eat out, it comes out of this $600. If we think we need a coffee on the way to church, it comes out of the food envelope. We do a cash system, and twice a month I get $300 for food. We have found that it works better for us to do two weeks at a time, because one week I may spend $90 and the next $150. Sales, using up what I have stock-piled, and household supplies can tip my budget one week but not usually for two weeks in a row. So, I will be spending, on average, around $135/week on food for a family of 5 (husband, myself, two school-aged boys, and a toddler girl).

I hope my budget is a good reflection of my readers, or gives them a goal to aim for, but if your family is on an even tighter budget please leave me a comment. Two-years-ago, we were a family of 5, but I was still nursing my daughter, and I was feeding our family a whole foods diet (little-no processed foods) for $75 week. We weren't eating as many organic foods as we eat now, but it was still much healthier than eating sugar and preservative laden food. I was able to spend a lot more time in the kitchen, because we had not started homeschooling yet. So while it was more time consuming, I quickly learned that where there is a will there is a way.

This should be fun! Thank you for the feedback I have been receiving about what you guys would like to read and learn about. My hope is that this is a place where we can learn how to nourish ourselves and our families together!

Have a Plan

It is no secret that one of the best ways to save money with your grocery budget is to have a menu. There are many websites, blog posts, and pins on Pinterest (exposing my new distraction) that share many creative ways to make a menu. Nearly 2-years-ago I found one on Design Sponge that worked for me, and I have not turned back. Today, I thought I would share my system with you!

(Print)

This menu works great for our family because there is a menu section, a grocery list, and daily small spaces where I am able to write what I need to prep.

How it works:

- I sit down on Tuesdays and check out the weekly ads. The EWG List is also on hand to see where it is most wise to buy organic. For me, in the Dallas area, I look at the Sprouts and Whole Foods ads. I make note of what is on sale, and start to build my menu around sale items and what I normally buy from Costco.

- There are many sites I search to find healthy recipes. All Recipes allows me to enter ingredients I want and don't want in a recipe. Cooking Light has their "In Season" section I have previously blogged about. Everyday Paleo is another favorite recipe site of mine. And if you know me well, you know I have a deep love for Ree (The Pioneer Woman)!

- From there I figure out what meat I will need for the week. Since we have gone organic and free-range it is not too often I find meat on sale. I pay $2.39/lb for Rosie's free-range organic chicken at Sprouts, and around $4.50/lb for free-range, hormone-free beef at Matador.

- Once the days are filled in I write all the food I will need for the day on the list below that day. So if I'm making tacos ground beef, seasoning, an onion, romaine lettuce hearts, tortillas, cheese, and carrots will all be on the list for that day. Listing things out like this may seem excessive, but it keeps me from first overbuying, and then helps insure that I actually use everything I bought. In our home it is also great because Brandon likes to cook. If Brandon sees that I need that one green pepper in the fridge on Friday he won't use it on Wednesday.

- On the "Oh, I also need..." section I put snack items, fresh fruit, and other random things like oil, peanut butter, and toilet paper.

- If you open the link, you will see that there are small spots under each day. In that small spot is where I will put anything I need to do to prep for meals. If I need to soak grains and beans, or make lunches because we will be out of the house the next day, then it is written in that spot.

- I keep my menu posted on my refrigerator on a clipboard that I made after seeing the Design Sponge Post. I am currently working on a "Food Binder" to store past menus, recipes, and pantry/freezer inventory lists. I highly recommend keeping your old menus, because I find that if I'm stumped on what to make that I can look at old menus for inspiration (and to know what my family liked/disliked).

If you keep a menu, do you have any tips for others? If you have tried to keep a menu in the past, what made you stop? I would like to hear from others about what has or has not worked for them.

How I Squeeze (most of) It In

The most common question I get asked, funny enough, is "how do you have time to work-out?"  The answer: "I make time!"  I am a person greatly affected by exercise.  Step mills, treadmills, and weights are where I do a lot of my thinking.  Jillian Michaels gets a lot of my wrath.  ;)  If you don't care when I work-out,  but you're just looking for "Mommy time" then maybe seeing my schedule will encourage you.

6:45 a.m.- Roll out of bed to enjoy coffee, reading my Bible/prayer, and doing some homework (Biblical counseling training, Recovery, etc)

7:45 a.m. - Wash face and put on work-out clothes

8:00 a.m. - Breakfast for the family, morning chores for kids (including getting dressed)

8:30/9:00 a.m. - School time!  I will post soon about what our school time looks like; however, we do the workbox method, and this allows me to get a lot done around the house while the kids are working.

11:30 a.m. - Pack up our lunch containers (again, another post) and head to the gym.  The kids eat on their way to the gym.

1:00 p.m. - Head home from gym

1:15 p.m.-3:00 p.m. - Selah naps.  Boys (6 & 4) nap, play quietly, or read in room for quiet time.  During this time I shower, get dressed, clean some more, plan for the next day's school lesson, and check my emails or return phone calls

3:00 p.m. - Afternoon chores for the kids & then free play.  This is the time we try to make play-dates, co-ops, go on nature walks,  or go to the park.  If we had a "field-trip" or co-op in the morning we spend this time doing book work.

4:30 p.m. - Dinner prep

5:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. - Eat Dinner

5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. - Clean kitchen, sweep floor, and get ready for that night's events.  We have three nights a week that are continually scheduled.

6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. - Church/ministry or family time.

8:30 p.m. - Kids are in bed!  

8:30 p.m. - 10 p.m. - Depends on the night, and what did or did not get done during the day.  ;)

10:30 p.m. - Brandon and I go to bed.

I will say that Brandon works from home.  There are some days when I run errands while the kids nap, but before he started working from home in September I would run the errands on Wednesdays once the kids got up from their naps.  It has been a tremendous blessing having Brandon working from home, our family is always together, but our actual schedule has not changed much - I just have some adult company.  :)

Dr. Bronner's

Five years ago, I took a step back and realized how many chemicals my family and I were exposed to in our home. Our skin touched and absorbed everything from dish soap and cleaners to shampoo and body soap on a daily basis. This realization prompted my family’s decision to go non-toxic throughout our home. While I understand that I cannot protect my family from all things toxic, I decided to make a difference where I could. I began doing some research and found an organic soap product called Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap. Dr. Bronner's products enable my family to be eco-friendly and chemical-free, while staying on a tight budget.

According to the Dr. Bronner’s website, “in earlier centuries, an all-vegetable-based soap was made in the Castile region of Spain from local olive oil. By the turn of this century, ‘Castile’ had come to mean any vegetable-oil-based soap, versus animal (tallow) fat-based soap. ‘Pure-Castile’ is now also your guarantee that what you are using is a real ecological and simple soap, not a complex blend of detergents with a higher ecological impact due to the waste stream during manufacture and slower biodegradability.”

When I decided to take the plunge into holistic home care, I was concerned about the cost of special, non-toxic cleaning and hygiene products. I quickly discovered many uses for Dr. Bronner’s, and the product’s versatility is what makes it such a great value. I have challenged myself to see how many different ways I can use castile soap in my home, and after a few years of using Dr. Bronner’s, my list includes:

• Bathroom & Kitchen All-Purpose Spray – mix 2 tablespoons of Dr. Bronner’s and 20 drops of tea tree oil into a spray bottle and shake well.
• Foaming Hand/Body Wash – place 3 teaspoons of Dr. Bronner’s into an old foaming hand pump, fill the bottle to the top with water, and shake. Essential oils, such as tea tree oil, can be added as well.
• Body Wash – a few squirts of Dr. Bronner’s on a loofah or washcloth is our family’s (infant – adult) favorite body soap. Dr. Bronner’s also offers bars of soap.
• Scouring Powder – mixing 1/2 cup of Dr. Bronner’s with one cup of baking soda makes an incredibly effective scouring powder.
• Laundry Soap – in a pinch, 1/4 cup of Dr. Bronner’s castile soap is a great laundry soap. I also use it to wash wool and delicates in the sink.
• Homemade Wipe Solution – 2 teaspoons of Dr. Bronner’s mixed into a 2 oz spray bottle makes a wonderful wipe solution to spray on cloth wipes or divided paper towels.
• Mopping – I use 1/4 cup of Dr. Bronner’s and 20 drops of tea tree oil to mop our floors.
• Vegetable Wash – I use a squirt of Dr. Bronner’s in a sink full of water to wash our vegetables.

I buy Dr. Bronner’s from Vitacost, because they offer some of the lowest and most consistent prices on this product. However, Dr. Bronner’s has begun popping up in the cosmetics section of some Target stores and in the organic sections of many Krogers. Dr. Bronner’s castile soap is available in several scents, including my family’s favorites – lavender and baby mild. Other available scents include peppermint, tea tree, citrus orange, almond, and eucalyptus.

As a Mom of three small children, I appreciate that Dr. Bronner’s is non-toxic. My kids can crawl on the floor, splash in the bath or help me clean without raising concern about what they’re exposed to. Furthermore, this castile soap is also a great bargain, because just a little of the product goes a long way. In fact, a gallon will last our family of 5 for an entire year using it in all the ways listed above! The low cost of Dr. Bronner’s appeals to the frugalista in me, and my disdain for clutter is calmed by replacing several bottles with one bottle of castile soap. All in all, Dr. Bronner’s is an absolute favorite in our house.

Tattered Cape

On any given day if you were to drop by my house you would find me running around in a t-shirt, jeans, and my hair back in a pony-tail. Dishes would be soaking in the sink, kids projects strewn across my kitchen counter, a quilt and couch pillows thrown on the floor by my toddler, and you would have to step over kids toys in the entry. It would not be long before my 6-year-old was showing you a Lego creation, my 4-year-old would ask you to pick him up, and my 2-year-old would have you convinced she was hungry an hour after breakfast.

On a good day, school starts at 8 a.m. after I have spent time reading my Bible, drinking my coffee, and a load of laundry has been started. A patient Mom would be sitting on the couch praying and starting our lessons in the children’s Bible. We would move on to the theme of the day, math, phonics, calendar, and classic literature. My kids would be following along and listening. Lunch and dinner would be plates loaded with healthy, balanced and “whole” foods. These are many of our days.

However, on a bad day 8 a.m. comes and goes and I am still in my pajamas. My kids are running through the house, and my husband is shushing them and handing out books. I am gathering materials, and trying to figure out where I placed my lesson plans. When we start 30 minutes late I am frazzled and the kids are wound up. A bad day usually involves many “steps” (time-outs), and Mommy losing her patience and yelling. Bad days mean hurried lunches, and dinners I put no thought into preparing or making. While these days provide plenty of opportunity for spontaneous prayer, and asking each other for forgiveness, they also humble me.

Friends ask what my days look like as a homeschooling Mom of three kids 6-years-old and under, and while I would love to say it is always a joy the truth is is that it is not. There are moments where I feel overwhelmed, and nights when I am discouraged. At times I wish my brain would shut off, and I could stop researching health and holistic living issues. The Lord is so good to me though. Not once has there been a time when I have gone to God in prayer and confessing my weakness that He has not taught and helped me.

I am not “Wonder Woman” nor am I “Super Mom.” Like many of you, I am a young woman raising three kids, and trying to figure out how to honor God in what He has called me to do. As I blog, and get to know you, I hope to both share with you the things on my heart, what I have learned, mistakes I have made and how I manage my home. ”Medley31” is not just about me and my journey though – I want to know you. My prayer over this blog is that this is a place of encouragement, sharpening, and learning.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope we have more time together.