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I’m currently challenging myself to stick with a $70 grocery budget for our family of five. This includes almost all of our breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners + most household products (toiletries, laundry soap, etc.).
For live updates, be sure to follow my Instagram Stories. See all posts on my $70 Grocery Budget here.
Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and we will be compensated if you click through and sign up. Read our disclosure policy here.
I’ve got LOTS of great deals to report to you today! Buckle your seat belt, this might be a l-o-n-g post!
Kroger had a Saturday Only Sale where you could get Smithfield Bacon for just $2.99 per package with the digital coupon. There was a limit of 5 packages and you better believe we took advantage of the deal and got 5 packages… because, BACON! 🙂
After scoring the great deal on bread at Big Lots, a few of you told me that I needed to check for the Clearance Cart at Big Lots… and you said that you’ve found some amazing deals in it! Well, I checked when I went today and I found it — and these crackers were in it for just $0.25 per package!
I also grabbed some Krusteaz pancake mix for $2.25 since we kind of last-minute invited friends to go to the pool with us tonight and then come back to our house for Breakfast for Dinner and Games.
I’m not sure if that’s a good price on pancake mix (I usually make mine, but it was less expensive and easier for me today to just buy it), but I thought it was a pretty decent deal and I’ve heard that that pancake mix is really good.
Big Lots tip: Be sure to sign up for a BuzzRewards card. You are supposed to get a $5 off $15 coupon for every three shopping trips. I’m excited to see if this actually works — because that could be a great way to stretch our budget a little bit more!
Total with tax: $17.80
Today is the last day of the Kroger Buy 5, Get $5 Off Sale, so I wanted to stop by and get a few more items before the sale ended. Here’s what I got:
Total with tax: $20.74 + I got a $3 catalina to use on my next shopping trip!
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Catalina Deal, but when I saw this Nature Valley deal, I knew I had to do it. These will make for great snacks to take with us to the pool! Remember, the Buy 5, Get $5 Off sale ends tonight. So if you want to get in on this deal, hurry out to your store before midnight!
(Also, the best deal is to buy the crunchy bars — there are 12 per box. But we decided to try a few different kinds, just for fun!)
This Week’s Simple Menu Plan
This menu is subject to change a little if I find some great deals or markdowns! ?
Breakfasts
Fried/Scrambled Eggs, Baked Oatmeal, Cereal, Fruit, Toast
Lunches
Mac & Cheese, Cereal, Chips/Salsa, Fruit, Veggies, Leftovers, Eggs, Yogurt, Salad
Snacks
Marked Down Yogurt, Fruit, Ice Cream Bars, Crackers, Granola Bars
Monday: Bacon & Eggs & Fruit & Southwest Roll-Ups (from the freezer) — these things don’t go together at all, really, but the girls and I went with friends to a movie and I just put this together at the last minute
Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner with Friends — Pancakes, Eggs (that I got marked down recently), Bacon, Strawberries
Wednesday: Haystacks, Chips & Homemade Guac, Fruit
Thursday: Sausage & Onions in the CrockPot, Noodles, Fruit
Friday: Dinner Out (I’m volunteering at the setup for Kaitlynn’s school’s yard sale.)
Saturday: Cookout — Sausage on the Grill, Corn on the Cob, Fruit
Sunday: Snack-y Dinner
Total spent so far this week: $57.77
Total left to spend: $12.23
Rebates: $0.25 for submitting a receipt to Ibotta, $0.98 back from Fetch Rewards for purchasing Goldfish & Suave + scanning two other receipts (If you haven’t signed up for Fetch Rewards, you can sign up here and use code WW7XJ and you’ll get a bonus 2,000 points = worth $2.)
I’m back!! After giving birth to my third baby the end of April, I took several weeks off from grocery shopping and mainly let my husband do the shopping. It felt SO great to finally get back into the swing of things this week and I even scored some great coupon deals!
Aldi
1 gallon Milk – $1.88
1 bag Frozen Chicken Breasts – $5.99
1 dozen Eggs – $1.18
1 lb Butter – $2.56
1 can Pineapple Chunks – $0.95
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup – $0.49
1 loaf Bread – $1.49
1 pkg English Muffins – $0.99
1 bag Roma Tomatoes – $1.29
1 pkg Chewy Granola Bars – $1.49
1 pkg Breakfast Bars – $1.79
1 Orange Juice Concentrate – $1.19
1 Half & Half – $1.99
1 Cantaloupe – $1.19
1 pkg Spinach – $1.19
2 pkg Strawberries – $1.19 each
1 pkg Green Peppers – $1.39
2 bags Frozen Vegetables – $0.79 each
2 Cucumbers – $0.49 each
Total: $31.99
Dillons
1 Core Water – $1.25, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon
1 Knorr Side Meal – $2.99, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon
1 dozen Eggs – $1.19 (I realized I needed 2 dozen eggs this week and and only picked up one dozen at Aldi.)
2 Reeses Puff’s Cereal – $1.49 each, used 2 $0.50/1 printable AND $1/2 SavingStar.com rebate – $0.49 each after coupons and rebate
1 Honey Nut Cheerios – $1.49, used $0.50/1 printable – $0.99 after coupon
2 Ken’s Salad Dressing – $1.49 each, used 2 $0.75/1 printable – $0.74 each after coupons
2 Cascadian Farms Cereal – $1.99 each, used 2 $1/1 printable – $0.99 each after coupons
1 Green Leaf Lettuce – $0.99
1 Kroger Deli Cheese – $0.88
1 pkg Goldfish Crackers – $0.99
2.81 lbs Bananas – $1.26
2.31 lbs Bananas – Marked down to $0.81
2.23 lbs Grapes – $6.67 (Ouch!! These were marked as $0.99/lb but did NOT ring up as that and I didn’t notice until I got home. This was a reminder to me to keep a close eye on the computer as my items are scanned.)
1 Annie’s Mac & Cheese – $1
1 Kroger Spaghetti Sauce – $0.99, used $0.25/1 Ibotta rebate – $0.74 after rebate
Used $0.25/1 Ibotta rebate for any receipt
Total after coupons and rebate: $19.71
Total for both stores: $51.70
Cereal, Toasted English Muffins, Eggs, Oatmeal, Fruit
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Carrots, Grapes x 2
Cheese, Crackers, Fruit, Veggies x 2
Mac & Cheese, Green Peppers, Yogurt (We have a bunch in our refrigerator that my husband bought last week.)
Leftovers x 2
Spaghetti, Steamed Peas, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Salad Bar, Banana Muffins (I’ll make a huge batch!)
BBQ Meatballs (using venison), Banana Muffins, Steamed Broccoli
Pancakes, Eggs, Cantaloupe
Sour Cream/Cream of Mushroom Chicken, Homemade Bread, Spinach Salad
Burritos (from the freezer), Rice, Leftover Tortilla Chips
Welcome to my weekly Book-ish post where I share what I’ve been reading and watching recently. If you missed it, you can see my Reading Goals for 2018 and 44 Books I Plan to Read This Year.
(Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and we will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking through our links. Read our disclosure policy here.)
Well, I finally watched Avengers: Infinity War and I’m not sure that I know what I think of it. It ended a lot differently than I expected and I’m just hoping that there will be some sort of clarity/redemption in the next movie. Because right now, I’m just confused as to what’s going on and whether I’m supposed to like it or not.
Note: There’s a lot of action, some violence, and some language in this film. The details here on IMDB do a great job of giving specifics so you can decide whether you want to watch it and whether you think it’s appropriate for your kids (if you were thinking of watching it with them).
I feel like the Avenger movies have so many moving parts and characters now, that it’s harder to keep up with and follow and enjoy. You might totally disagree, but that’s how I felt. And I also feel like some of the characters haven’t had the chance to develop to the depth that other characters have so I don’t know whether I like them or not! 🙂
Have you seen the movie? If so, I’d love to hear what you think!
I also finished This is Me by Chrissy Metz. I actually listened to the book because I was able to rent the audiobook for free through the Overdrive app (check to see if your library is affiliated with this app. It’s the best!)
While Chrissy and I come from very differing viewpoints in many areas (she does acknowledge God and a Higher Power, but theologically, our beliefs would be very, very different) and has a lot of crass language in it (beware listening to it when little ears are around!), as someone who loves This is Us and has been so curious about Kate’s character in that show, I found the book to be very interesting and insightful.
I appreciated how honest and open she was about her struggles and shortcomings and thought that there were many good nuggets of wisdom to be gleaned from the book. Plus, it was just a fascinating look behind-the-scenes into her life and journey. I found it so interesting how much her story parallels Kate’s story and am guessing she can play that character so much more authentically because in many respects, she is Kate.
Her book gave new depth to her character on the show and it made me look forward even more to when Season 3 of This is Us comes out!
Did you see my list of 15 Books You Should Read This Summer? I also have a free printable Summer Reading Challenge Pack that you can download here.
When I Find Time to Read
People are always asking me how I find time to read. Honestly, it’s because I love to read, because I’ve chosen to prioritize it, because I don’t have a lot of other hobbies, and because I can’t not read. Also, when you love something, you usually can find ways to get creative to find time to fit it in — even if it’s in the little nooks and crannies of life.
I wrote a post on 3 ways to find more time to read — even when life is busy. And here are 7 more ways to find time to read.
Welcome to my weekly post I share a peek into our lives, talk about things I’m loving, share links to interesting articles or helpful ideas I’ve collected throughout the past week, and just talk about whatever is on my heart! ?
He was supposed to be taking a picture of something for me… instead, he took a number of photos like this! 😉
I told you that I had dubbed this the Summer of the Updo and I’m having fun trying different styles! 🙂
(Excuse the toilet photo bomb! ;))
I’ve especially been working on perfecting Dutch Braiding… and slowly but surely, I’m getting it!
We spent lots of time at the pool this past week!
And ooh and ahhed over this photo that my sister sent of Talon!
Friends had us over on Thursday night for Game Night and we learned how to play Settlers of Catan.
(We also enjoyed hanging out with some other friends on Friday night to eat Indian Food and play Dutch Blitz! We were having so much fun and I never got any pictures!)
On Friday, I texted a friend that we hadn’t gotten to see for too long and said, “We have brats/hot dogs, strawberries, corn on the cob, and ice cream, can we bring that over to your house for dinner on Saturday and hang out?” She had a few other things on hand and we pulled together a wonderful meal — requiring very little work from both of us!
After dinner, we all went and hung out at their neighborhood pool. It was such a great evening!
2018 Goals Update
Personal Goals
1. Read 100 non-self-help books that will build me up/encourage me/inspire me/recharge me. (Fiction/story-driven/biographies/inspirational living books/devotionals.) See the list of 44 books I plan to read this year.
**Progress: 24 books read so far this year
2. Read through the entire Bible.
**Progress: I’m using the Robert Murray M’Cheyne plan and am all caught up— yay!
3. Write one handwritten note to someone every week.
**Progress: 25 notes written so far this year
4. Run 500 miles.
**Progress: 215 miles run so far
Marriage Goal
5. Go on an overnight trip with Jesse without the kids.Jesse and I went to NYC together in January.Family Goals
6. Read 10 books aloud with the kids.
**Progress: I’ve finished one book so far.
7. Take the kids to South Africa.
**Progress: We bought our tickets!
8. Go on a family road trip.
**Progress: We’ve been researching some options for this. Stay tuned!
Financial Goals
9. Save up to pay cash to finish off an office for me and workout room for Jesse and me in the basement in our new house.
**Progress: We’re working on finishing out the workout room.
10. Replenish our Emergency Fund (we dipped into it to replace my car when it got totaled because of the carpet beetle infestation.)
Business Goals
11. Increase our gross income from the business by 8%.
12. Launch 5 new courses.**Progress: We launched 4 Weeks to a More Productive Life launched in January, Content Creation 101 in February, 4-Week Blog Coaching Program in March, Email List Setup 101 in March, and Make Over Your Mornings LIVE in April.
Welcome to my weekly Slow Day post, inspired by Monica from The Homespun Heart. My Word for 2018 is Slow and, in the spirit of that word, I’m taking one day each week (Wednesday) off — I’ll be unplugged and offline and plan to move at a slower pace, take time to do things that refresh me, and just really focus on being present and savoring the moment.
Each week, I’ll be sharing a photographic peek into my Slow Day. Enjoy a little peek into our lives!
(Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and we will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking through our links. Read our disclosure policy here.)
I did my hair in a Dutch braid and blob today. I was happy with how it turned how — not sure that I could recreate it, though! 🙂
Here’s what it looked like from the front.
And I wore my favorite yellow sandals!
Since I had more time today, I decided to do a little leisurely shopping. I went to Dollar Tree to pick up lemon juice for my gallon of lemon water that I drink every day.
I was also excited to find Brown Rice and Pinto Beans for just a dollar per bag!
And then I picked up a few markdowns at Kroger.
I also headed to Big Lots to check out the deals there.
Other than the bread deal I found, I wasn’t super impressed with their other prices.
But they do have great prices on oil, I discovered!
And of course I went to Aldi to pick up some cheap strawberries and corn on the cob.
Since our neighborhood doesn’t have a pool, we bought a membership to a rec pool in a nearby town and we are looking forward to getting to spend lots of time there this summer!
We convinced some friends of ours to also buy a membership, so we met them there to close down the pool on Wednesday night (it closes at 7 p.m.)
It was the perfect evening for swimming. Hot but not too hot!
And this pool is perfect for kids of many different ages!
We came home and made breakfast for dinner — sausage and waffles.
While the waffles were cooking, we played some Dutch Blitz.
We love this game!
This is our favorite waffle recipe.
We made a double batch and we froze half of it.
(She had just washed her hair!)
The kids love to help make waffles!
And then we stayed up a little too late playing round after round of Dutch Blitz!
I’m currently challenging myself to stick with a $70 grocery budget for our family of five. This includes almost all of our breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners + most household products (toiletries, laundry soap, etc.).
For live updates, be sure to follow my Instagram Stories. See all posts on my $70 Grocery Budget here.
Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and we will be compensated if you click through and sign up. Read our disclosure policy here.
Since Wednesday is my Slow Day, I had some extra time to devote to shopping. So I stopped by Dollar Tree, Aldi, Kroger, and Big Lots. And I got some great deals!
Did you know that Big Lots sells bread?!? I had no idea.
I haven’t been in a Big Lots store in years and had sort of forgotten about them. But some of you kept suggesting I go in there and check it out.
When I walked in the door and saw the reduced bread cart, I was all, “No!!!! This has been here for the 4 years we’ve lived here and I never knew?!?!”
They had a lot of different bread and bagels on the cart — all priced at $1.40 per loaf. If you have a Bread Outlet, you might be able to find bread less expensive than this, but this is a great deal for these name brand breads in our area.
Yes, the bread is close to the sell by date so you’ll need to freeze it when you get home. But we always freeze our bread anyway and then just use it from the freezer as needed.
I’ve never tried the Eureka bread before but some of you said it usually retails for $6 a loaf and that it’s fantastic!
Moral of the story: You never know where you’re going to find great deals! There might be some hidden gems right where you live that you don’t know about because you’ve just never checked.
Second moral of the story: If you like fantastic bread at a great price, go run and check out your local Big Lots store. (They also have good deals on olive oil and other oils. I didn’t see much else to write home about, but their stock changes every time, so I’ll keep looking!)
Third moral of the story: You guys were right. 😉
To see me talk more about my Big Lots trip, watch my video above. (And you can subscribe to my YouTube channel here if you’re interested in watching other shopping haul videos, recipe videos, and more money-saving videos!)
I took this hot guy with me shopping this morning. 🙂 I was getting ready to hop in the car to run to Aldi and I spontaneously asked him if he wanted to come with me. It was a quick shopping trip, but we had some great discussions in the car and just love opportunities like this to get to be together!
15 years and we still love spending time together! Also, it’s so fun that our kids are old enough that we can now leave them at home by themselves!
I was kind of sad that I was $2+ under budget. I would have purchased another item or two at Aldi, but I was afraid that I was going to be over, so I didn’t just in case! 🙂 Oh well!
Spending Totals
Total spent on groceries this week: $67.46
Rebates: $0.50 for submitting two receipts to Ibotta, $1.36 back from Fetch Rewards for purchasing Goldfish & Suave and scanning 5 qualifying receipts. You can scan any grocery store receipts — including Aldi! The only receipt from this week that I didn’t get any points from was Big Lots. (If you haven’t signed up for Fetch Rewards, you can sign up here and use code WW7XJ and you’ll get a bonus 2,000 points = worth $2.)
2 64-oz cartons Orange Juice – $3.38
1 32-oz carton Half and Half – $1.59
1 16-oz carton Heavy Whipping Cream – $1.55
1 gallon Whole Milk – $1.36
1 64-oz carton Almond Milk – $1.89
2 16-oz bags Mini Cucumbers – $3.38
1 bag Red Grapes (2.17lbs @ $0.89/lb) – $1.93
1 Cantaloupe – $1.29
2 bags Spring Mix – $3.78
1 Seedless Watermelon – $2.89
1 pkg Grape Tomatoes – $0.99
2 pkgs Strawberries – $2.58
2 Cauliflower – $3.70
1 bag Zucchini – $1.69
2 3-ct pkgs Multi-Colored Peppers – $3.98
2 pkgs Artisan Lettuce – $3.78
1 bag Baby Carrots – $0.59
1 3-lb bag Jazz Apples – $2.99
1 pkg Radishes – $0.49
1 pkg Broccoli Crowns – $1.45
1 3-lb pkg Frozen Chicken Breasts – $5.39
1 16-oz pkg Deli Sliced Turkey Meat – $2.55
1 large canister Quick Oats – $2.29
1 32-oz box Elbow Macaroni – $1.39
1 5-lb bag All-Purpose Flour – $1.15
1 pkg Burrito-Size Tortillas – $1.29
1 20-ct pkg Fajita-Size Tortillas – $1.99
1 jar Barbeque Sauce – $0.85
1 32-oz carton Nonfat Greek Yogurt – $3.29
5 single-serving sized 100-calorie Greek Yogurts – $3.25
1 jar Kosher-Spear Pickles – $1.35
1 pkg Rice Cakes – $1.35
1 loaf Honey Wheat Bread – $0.85
1 pkg Hot Dog Buns – $0.59
Total: $72.86
Harris Teeter5 cartons Turkey Hill Ice Cream (B2G3) – $9.98
6 cans Green Beans – $2.22
2 bags Chex Mix – $2.00, used $0.50/2 printable (doubled), plus $0.50/2 Harris Teeter evic – $0.50/2 after coupons
2 Larabars – $2.00, used $0.50/2 printable (doubled) – $1.00/2 after coupon
1 4-ct pkg Activia Yogurt – $1.39, used $1.00/1 printable – $0.39 after coupon
1 Yoplait Mix-ins – $0.88, used $0.40/1 printable (doubled) – $0.08 after coupon
plus receive $0.25 when you submit any receipt to Ibotta
Total after Coupons and Rebate: $13.92
I also went to Harris Teeter earlier in the week for their Super Double Coupons. These deals are no longer available, so I won’t post links, but my total for everything in this picture was $11.47. It includes 4 boxes of Special K, 2 pkgs Strawberries, 2 pkgs Coleman Hot Dogs, 3 pkgs Yakisoba, 2 Galbani Ricotta Cheese, and 6 assorted boxes frozen bars/ice cream novelties.
Total: $11.47
Grocery Total for the Week: $98.25
Weekly Menu Plan
Breakfasts
Everyone is responsible for making/cleaning up their own breakfast. Choices include:
Cereal, Scrambled/Boiled/Fried Eggs, Veggie Omelets, Smoothies, Oatmeal, Fruit, Yogurt, Strawberry Muffins
Lunches
Cheese Quesadillas, Carrots, Strawberries x 2
Turkey Sandwiches, Apples, Cucumbers x 2
Chick-Fil-A (A friend kindly offered to take our kids out; since we won’t have kids, my husband and I will join the “Young At Heart” group at church for their regular lunch at Golden Corral since it is during the same time. We aren’t seniors yet 😉, but enjoy getting to spend time learning from people who have a lot to share with us!)
Leftovers x 2
Dinners
Grilled Chicken, Relish Plate with Dip, Make-Ahead Butterhorns, Macaroni and Cheese, Fruit Salad, Green Beans, Ice Cream (Company for Dinner)
Dinner at a Friend’s House – I’m bringing Watermelon, Tossed Salad, and Ice Cream
Hot Dogs on the Grill, Baked Homemade Fries, Roasted Broccoli
Build-Your-Own-Burritos (Seasoned Ground Venison, Shredded Cheese, Salsa, Plain Greek Yogurt, Shredded Lettuce), Roasted Cauliflower
Barbequed Meatballs (I’ll use a combination of ground turkey and ground venison), Cheesy Hash Brown Potatoes, Green Beans, Cantaloupe
Baked Potatoes with Meat and Cheese, Tossed Salad
Leftovers
I’m currently challenging myself to stick with a $70 grocery budget for our family of five. This includes almost all of our breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners + most household products (toiletries, laundry soap, etc.).
For live updates, be sure to follow my Instagram Stories. See all posts on my $70 Grocery Budget here.
Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and we will be compensated if you click through and sign up. Read our disclosure policy here.
I took Silas to the store with me on Tuesday to see what deals we could find at Kroger. I did all my shopping during the school year when they were at school, so it’s been awhile since he and I have gone to the store together.
Silas was SO impressed with the deals I was able to find and it reminded me that I should take my kids with me at least occasionally — because I want them to learn how to be strategic shoppers at the grocery store, too!
To see more details on my shopping trip, watch my video above. (And you can subscribe to my YouTube channel here if you’re interested in watching other shopping haul videos, recipe videos, and more money-saving videos!)
We have a weird week this week when it comes to meals. Kaitlynn and Jesse were out of town the beginning of the week, we have multiple things going on in the evenings, and we were invited over to two different family’s houses for dinner!
The only thing we’re hosting this week is my Discipleship Small Group — and I’m just serving snacks for that (I think we’re doing cheese & crackers, fruit, Banana Bread, and sparkling water).
So our menu is super, crazy simple!
This Week’s Super Simple Menu Plan
This menu is subject to change a little if I find some great deals or markdowns! ?
Breakfasts
Fried/Scrambled Eggs, Baked Oatmeal, Cereal, Fruit, Toast
Lunches
Ham Sandwiches, Mac & Cheese, Cereal, Chips/Salsa, Fruit, Veggies, Leftovers, Eggs, Yogurt, Salad
Snacks
Marked Down Yogurt, Fruit, Ice Cream Bars, Homemade Energy Bites, Banana Bread
Dinners
Monday — Southwest Roll-Ups from the freezer, salad
Tuesday — Leftovers (Jesse and Kaitlynn gone so I’m keeping it simple and we’re doing a Clean Out the Fridge night!)
Wednesday —Breakfast for dinner: Waffles, Eggs
Thursday — Cookout & Game Night at our friends’ house — I’m bringing some hot dogs and buns from the freezer.
Friday — Dinner at another friend’s house
Saturday — Snack-y Dinner (fend for yourself — cereal, leftovers, etc.)
Sunday — Brats (from the freezer), Sliced Cucumbers, Fruit, Crackers/CheeseFreezer Cooking to Do: Waffles, Chocolate Peanut Butter Fat Bombs
Total spent so far this week: $20.74
Total left to spend: $49.26
Rebates: $0.25 for submitting a receipt to Ibotta, $0.56 back from Fetch Rewards for purchasing Goldfish & Suave (If you haven’t signed up for Fetch Rewards, you can sign up here and use code WW7XJ and you’ll get a bonus 2,000 points = worth $2.)
Guest post from Alicia of Turquoise Grace:
Are you living on a bare-bones budget, but wish you could afford to take your family on vacation?
If so, you’re not alone.
For my husband and I, we recently decided that we would like to prioritize traveling for our single-income family of 6. Some people think we’re crazy. The stress, the added costs, the sheer exhaustion – all while traveling with a brood of boys – it just doesn’t make sense.
While there are plenty of articles out there with ideas on how to save money on traveling or how to take budget-friendly family vacations, this isn’t one of them.
You see, I’m writing for those of us who don’t have any wiggle room. Who desperately want to travel with their family, but can barely make ends meet. The ones for whom it’s not a matter of saving money on travel, but simply being able to travel at all.
I realize if you’re in this position, some of these tips might not be the most sound financial advice. But when we’re prioritizing travel without a travel budget, we must get creative! At the end of your life, what’s most important to you? If it’s not traveling with your family, this may not apply. But if it is, then read on…
We have 4 children and our finances are very tight pretty, no matter what we do. It makes logical sense to tighten the purse strings, put our heads down, fight the uphill battle that is stretching a budget three ways to Sunday, and never look back.
But that often leads to one thing – burnout. And when burnout sets in, despite our best efforts, it’s really hard to make forward progress.
Everyone eventually needs a break. So instead of waiting until we hit rock bottom, we head it off at the pass, and plan breaks with our family throughout the year.
We feel that traveling with our family creates invaluable memories that will last a lifetime.
Sharing unique memories create a bonding experience which deepens relationships.
Deeper relationships with your kids foster greater mutual trust and respect for years to come.
Now that we’ve established why traveling as a family is important for us, let’s take a look at some ways that we can make it happen.
Your yearly tax return just might be the perfect opportunity to set aside some money for vacation plans.
Yes, there is most likely something more pressing to put a chunk of money towards; however if traveling is important to your family, and this is the only time you receive a chunk of unbudgeted money, a family vacation might be just what you need.
Even if all you can manage is $5 per paycheck, that’s better than nothing! After a year of setting aside $10/month, you could easily have enough to pay for gas for a short family road trip!
We primarily use cash. Because of this, we have a lot of loose change!
Instead of spending our change on a weekly coffee or some other habit, we designate a Coin Jar to hold any and all loose accumulated change.
We take a family road trip every summer. Throughout the year we add our change to our communal change jar. Believe it or not, by the time our road trip comes around, we usually have enough money to cover our gas expenses for the entire trip!
It’s an easy thing to do that doesn’t require much thought, and generally adds up quickly!
Another idea to earn some fast cash is to organize a yearly garage sale. Not only will this help you purge a year’s worth of accumulated clutter, but whatever proceeds earned can be designated to your family vacation fund.
These tips are simple, easy, and quick to set up — which is exactly the point!
If you don’t have wiggle room in your budget for anything except the bare necessities, it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to fund a vacation budget. But I believe bonding as a family is THIS important! Don’t let your budget (or lack of!) stop you from getting creative!
If you truly believe in the importance of creating lifelong family memories and bonding experiences by traveling together as a family, consider implementing some of these tips throughout the year to help make it happen.
Alicia is a firm believer in family travel, a good cup of coffee, and raising her four boys to become strong Godly men. You can find her at Turquoise Grace, blogging about all things raising boys with a coffee mug in hand, a baby in her lap, and a pile of laundry at her feet.
Welcome to my weekly Book-ish post where I share what I’ve been reading and watching recently. If you missed it, you can see my Reading Goals for 2018 and 44 Books I Plan to Read This Year.
(Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and we will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking through our links. Read our disclosure policy here.)
I finished A Man Called Ove on Sunday and this is a book that is going to be making me think and ponder for a long time. It starts out really slowly and I almost gave up after the first few chapters because it didn’t seem like my type of book.
However, I had heard so many rave reviews of it that I just had to keep reading… at least for a few more chapters. And I’m so glad that I did because this book slowly grew on me and ended up deeply touching me.
For me, it was a reminder that we often judge people based upon appearances and first impressions. If someone seems irritable and annoying, it’s much easier to just avoid them than to press in and love them. But usually, the people that are the most irritable are the ones who need love the most.
It challenged me to look for the people who are on the fringes, the people who are hard to love, the people who often get written off and to look for opportunities to love them well.
This book also reminded me that everyone has a story and a history and everyone is carrying around burdens and wounds and struggles. We should always give people the benefit of the doubt, because you never know what battle they are fighting or what struggle they are going through.
Note: This book is not written at all from a Christian perspective and has quite a bit of crass language in it.
Kathrynne read The Book Thief and loved it and so we enjoyed watching the movie together. It was incredibly sad, but also heart-warming. Kathrynne said that the movie was good but the book was better (of course! Isn’t that pretty much how it always is?)… so now I’m thinking I should read the book!
We also watched the final 3 episodes of Season 2 of Designated Survivor. And we so hope that Netflix picks it up for a Season 3!
Did you see my list of 15 Books You Should Read This Summer? I also have a free printable Summer Reading Challenge Pack that you can download here.
When I Find Time to Read
People are always asking me how I find time to read. Honestly, it’s because I love to read, because I’ve chosen to prioritize it, because I don’t have a lot of other hobbies, and because I can’t not read. Also, when you love something, you usually can find ways to get creative to find time to fit it in — even if it’s in the little nooks and crannies of life.
I wrote a post on 3 ways to find more time to read — even when life is busy. And here are 7 more ways to find time to read.
Welcome to my weekly post I share a peek into our lives, talk about things I’m loving, share links to interesting articles or helpful ideas I’ve collected throughout the past week, and just talk about whatever is on my heart! ?
Kathrynne flew to Kansas last Tuesday to help my sister with her three little boys this week.
How is it possible that my “baby” is now old enough to be babysitting other kids? And how have we entered the season where we’re discussing getting a job and where she wants to go to college??
(And yes, she’s only 13, but she’s a planner and has already mapped out where she wants to work at age 14, what job she hopes to get when she’s 16, and what kind of college she thinks she’s interested in. Since I’m all about goal-setting and living with intention, I’m trying to wholeheartedly support this… even though I want to be all, “Could you just chill out and pretend like you’re going to be a kid forever?!?”)
I’m so grateful for the privilege of being this girl’s mom. She doesn’t like having many pictures or stories of herself on the internet, so I always respect that and that’s why you don’t see a lot of her on my blog and social media.
But man, we love this girl something fierce and our home was too quiet last week without her here!
My resident handyman! 🙂 He loves fixing things for his mama!
I took this girl on a little date to Barnes & Noble on Wednesday. I love getting to spend one-on-one time with my kids whenever possible!
Kaitlynn made a handwriting notebook for her cousin Archer (6) to work on school with him (she flew to KS on Saturday to stay with my sister — more on that below!)
She has so.much.hair!!!
Mamas, I know that it’s often easier and more comfortable to sit on the sidelines and watch your kids play.
I sat on the sidelines for a long time, too. And I may have gotten a lot of reading done. I might have gotten some good pictures of my kids. And I earned a reputation with my kids of a mom who isn’t into playing.
But I’ve been working on reversing that reputation. Because deep down inside, I AM a fun mom… or at least I have intentions of being so.
But good intentions aren’t enough; you gotta actually get up out of your comfort zone and act!
On Friday, I took Silas to the pool just the two of us. We don’t have a neighborhood pool or a pool close by. So this meant researching pools that were open to the public, driving 25 minutes to a new pool to try it out (traffic was bad!), and paying a $6 entrance fee (which I thought was very reasonable!).
When I asked him earlier in the day if he wanted to go to the pool with me, he said, “Just the two of us? That won’t be any fun since I know you’ll just sit on the side and read.”
What did I tell you about that reputation I have??!
I told him that I was coming to the pool to swim WITH him. He didn’t believe me, but I made good on my promise!
We had a blast — and I topped it off by stopping to get him a doughnut on the way home.
Oh and we had so much fun that I’m pretty sure we’re going to buy a summer membership to this pool so we can come multiple times per week!
I think there’s going to be a lot more swimming with my kids in my future — and I’m excited about it!
On Saturday morning, we got up early and took a flight (just the two of us) to go to Kansas so I could pick up Kathrynne and leave Kaitlynn to take her place and stay with my sister to help her.
She has inspired us so much with all the fun ways she fixes her hair… so I’ve been practicing learning how to do more with French Braids and Dutch Braids and updos.
I’m thinking of dubbing this the Summer of the Updo… and challenging myself to learn and perfect multiple quick up-dos. (Anyone know any fantastic YouTube videos of quick updos? If so, send ’em my way!)
When we made it to Kansas, we only had about 3.5 hours before Kathrynne and I had to get back on a plane to get home so I could be home by Saturday evening since we had some commitments on Sunday. So we tried to make the most of those hours — spending time with my sister and her husband and boys.
Atlas is something else! He is the cuddliest 17-month-old I’ve ever met!
Archer (6) was so excited to have the girls staying with them so he had more people to talk to (he’s such an extrovert!!)
And I got to meet my new nephew, Talon!
We also got to spend time with my mom and dad and sister and then we headed back to the airport!
Our flight to Dallas ended up sitting on the tarmac for 30 minutes and we had 10 minutes to try to make a mad dash to the gate to make our connecting flight. It was way far away and we just missed it by a minute! But we were so grateful that we were able to get a ticket on a later flight and were home by 11 p.m.!
Sunday was spent serving at church, taking a nap, reading, and having dinner with Roger & Kathi Lipp who were in town for a conference!
1. Read 100 non-self-help books that will build me up/encourage me/inspire me/recharge me. (Fiction/story-driven/biographies/inspirational living books/devotionals.) See the list of 44 books I plan to read this year.
**Progress: 23 books read so far this year
2. Read through the entire Bible.
**Progress: I’m using the Robert Murray M’Cheyne plan and am all caught up— yay!
3. Write one handwritten note to someone every week.
**Progress: 25 notes written so far this year
4. Run 500 miles.
**Progress: 201 miles run so far
5. Go on an overnight trip with Jesse without the kids.Jesse and I went to NYC together in January.
6. Read 10 books aloud with the kids.
**Progress: I’ve finished one book so far.
7. Take the kids to South Africa.
**Progress: We bought our tickets!
8. Go on a family road trip.
**Progress: We’ve been researching some options for this. Stay tuned!
9. Save up to pay cash to finish off an office for me and workout room for Jesse and me in the basement in our new house.
**Progress: We’re working on finishing out the workout room.
10. Replenish our Emergency Fund (we dipped into it to replace my car when it got totaled because of the carpet beetle infestation.)
11. Increase our gross income from the business by 8%.
12. Launch 5 new courses.
**Progress: We launched 4 Weeks to a More Productive Life launched in January, Content Creation 101 in February, 4-Week Blog Coaching Program in March, Email List Setup 101 in March, and Make Over Your Mornings LIVE in April.
Welcome to my weekly Slow Day post, inspired by Monica from The Homespun Heart. My Word for 2018 is Slow and, in the spirit of that word, I’m taking one day each week (Wednesday) off — I’ll be unplugged and offline and plan to move at a slower pace, take time to do things that refresh me, and just really focus on being present and savoring the moment.
Each week, I’ll be sharing a photographic peek into my Slow Day. Enjoy a little peek into our lives!
(Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and we will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking through our links. Read our disclosure policy here.)
I’m loving reading through the Bible this year using the M’Cheyne Reading Plan (it’s at the back of my Bible that was a gift from She Reads Truth). I read the 4-5 chapters for the day each morning during my morning warm-up walk before I run — yes, on the treadmill because I prefer to run on a treadmill since I’m weird like that.
He thinks I’m crazy for taking so many pictures throughout the day, so I sometimes take pictures of him during really normal things like eating his Baked Oatmeal for breakfast just so he’ll make faces at me and start laughing at me! 🙂
I love this essential oil diffuser!
Jesse recently bought these little pans for the kids to use to make eggs (they love to eat fried eggs for a snack and they have been begging for little pans to make them in — yes, that might seem weird. But welcome to our life and the kinds of things that our kids want!), so I had to try one out. I didn’t like them as much as I like the regular pans, but it was kind of fun to make just one egg in a tiny pan!
We’ve been eating lots of melon since I keep finding great deals on it!
Part of my breakfast — I also had whole wheat toast and the fried egg.
Oh man, this episode was so good! I listened to it while working on some house projects. It sort of inspired me to finish writing this post.
My mom sent him a bunch of old coins and this safe and he had so much fun organizing everything!
We picked up our mail and there was a box of FREE books from My Reader Rewards!
I also got my coupon for FREE Sparkling Water!
I had earned a free gift card from Barnes & Noble, so Kaitlynn and I went on an afternoon date there together.
I just finished this book and surprised myself by really enjoying it. I’ll share more tomorrow in my weekly book post!
I worked on prepping to lead our Discipleship Small Group next week and went over this week’s lessons, too.
I had trouble getting into The Weight of Glory, but the more I’m reading it, the more I’m really finding it insightful and challenging.
And I took this picture as I was getting ready to head to meet up with my Discipleship Small Group. It was rainy and a little on the cold side which was a welcome change compared to the hot weather we’d had for a few days.
I’m currently challenging myself to stick with a $70 grocery budget for our family of five. This includes almost all of our breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners + most household products (toiletries, laundry soap, etc.).
For live updates, be sure to follow my Instagram Stories. See all posts on my $70 Grocery Budget here.
Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and we will be compensated if you click through and sign up. Read our disclosure policy here.
I went to Kroger on Friday to pick up some deals that had popped up in the past few days and to spend the $32 I still had left in our grocery budget for the week to spend.
I had a l-o-n-g list of things I was hoping to buy. And I didn’t have a lot of time to shop.
I also knew that I was going to be doing multiple Buy 5 Participating Items, Get $5 Off deals. Because you can mix and match items, but you also need to have exactly 5 items. And our store was out of or didn’t have certain items I had planned to buy (or maybe I just couldn’t find them?)
Then, while I was shopping, I checked my e-coupons that I had loaded to my account and discovered that at least 5 of them that I had thought were on there weren’t loaded anymore (I’m guessing maybe they had expired?). So that changed what I was going to buy, too.
Because of these hiccups and because I had to revamp my list of what I was planning to buy in the store, it took me at least 30 minutes to shop — which is about twice as long as usual!
Then, I got up to the self-checkout and realized that I probably had more items in my cart than was really “acceptable” for self-checkout. I mean, they don’t say there’s a limit for self-checkout, but they also don’t offer a lot of space to put groceries after you’ve rung them up.
(I usually always use self-checkout because it allows me to take my time and double-check the screen carefully to make sure that all of my e-coupons came off and that all of the specials/sale prices were correct.)
I decided to just bag my groceries and stick them in the cart as soon as I rang them up. This worked well and everything was going to smoothly… until I needed to ring up my coupons and rain checks.
The Kroger employees are usually so kind and helpful and gracious, but I think that this woman was just overwhelmed and had a lot on her plate because she acted like I was a big inconvenience.
I tried to be as gracious and kind as possible, but she was upset that I had a rain check and I had already rung up the items on the rain check (I haven’t used a raincheck in a long time and haven’t used one at self-checkout so I didn’t know I should just wait and have them ring the items up individually.)
And then she was upset when she also discovered that the rain check was for the 4-day sale items. She told me in no uncertain terms that I was not supposed to have gotten a rain check and she needed to “train her employees better”. Clearly, you all were right about saying that they shouldn’t have given me a rain check on the 4-day sale items! Live and learn.
(Note: Our store hasn’t had signage on the 4-day sales that says “while supplies last” nor have they posted anything about “no rain checks” on the 4-day or 1-day sale items. But it appears that this is likely the direction they are going based upon what she said and based upon what the rest of you have told me.)
She said that since they had written me a rain check, she would honor it. But then she had a really hard time voiding the five items and re-ringing it up correctly. She finally got it to work, but I could tell she was really frustrated.
Again, I just tried to be grateful — and I was also grateful that I only had a few other paper coupons in addition to the raincheck! I’m not sure what she would have done had I had a big stack of coupons!
One thing I learned: it’s honestly so much easier to do the smaller trips. I know some of you have commented about how that seems like so much more work and how you can’t imagine going to the store multiple times per week.
But truthfully, I realized that it’s so much less complicated to only go in and buy 8-12 items and use 1-2 coupons + a few e-coupons, then to have purchased 30 items, have a raincheck for 5 items, a coupon for a free item, a few other coupons, multiple e-coupons, plus 4 different Buy 5, Get $5 off transactions.
Whew! So I survived the shopping trip and I got some great deals, but I wanted to share the details of this trip with you to encourage you that not every shopping trip is a home run for me!
I was super excited to find this deal in store — and I’ve not seen anyone post about it elsewhere so I wanted to call attention to it here. The Santa Cruz drinks (lemonade, raspberry lemonade, strawberry lemonade, and more!) are on sale for $0.99 when you buy 5 participating items.
I was already considering getting some of these because they are organic and so delicious. But then, as I was looking at them, I discovered that some of the bottles had hangtag coupons on them for $1 off 2 bottles!
So I ended up getting 4 bottles — for just $0.49 each after the coupon! Definitely check your store to see if you find these coupons, too!
Total spent this week: $69.45! (I can’t believe how close I got it to $70 this week!!)
Rebates: $0.25 for submitting a receipt to Ibotta, I also earned the equivalent of a few dollar back from Fetch Rewards in points for scanning my receipts. I had three receipts that qualified for points + the 500 bonus per receipt (because of the BBQ sauce I bought last week and the Oscar Mayer lunchmeat and Goldfish Crackers I bought this week).
Plus, I earned 200 points per receipt for scanning a few other receipts that had no qualifying items on it. I think I earned the equivalent of about $3 total! If you haven’t signed up for Fetch Rewards, you can sign up here and use code WW7XJ and you’ll get a bonus 2,000 points (worth $2).
Note: 1,000 points = $1 in gift cards on Fetch Rewards.
And I’m still loving Fetch Rewards, but I’ll keep you posted. I’m curious to see if I can actually earn $5+ in Amazon gift cards every month just for scanning my receipts and buying things I’m already planning to buy! You can read some of my initial thoughts here.
Do you want to take better control of your grocery budget? If so, you’ll want to read my newest eBook, 5 Days to a Better Grocery Budget!
This eBook will give you all the tips, tricks, and practical advice you need to create a grocery budget tailored to your family’s needs that you can actually STICK to (because that’s the key!)
In this eBook, you’ll learn:
[better_budget_form]
I’m currently challenging myself to stick with a $70 grocery budget for our family of five. This includes almost all of our breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners + most household products (toiletries, laundry soap, etc.).
For live updates, be sure to follow my Instagram Stories. See all posts on my $70 Grocery Budget here.
Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and we will be compensated if you click through and sign up. Read our disclosure policy here.
If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know how much we love Baked Oatmeal. My kids would eat it for breakfast every single day! And Jesse loves it, too.
So I made another double-batch of it this week — hoping that it would last more than a few days! Well, I think I may have to start quadrupling this recipe at the rate these people can eat it! 🙂
So many of you have asked how you serve Baked Oatmeal. We just scoop it out of the pan into bowls and top it with milk — like cereal. It’s too crumbly to eat like bars but it’s a different consistency than granola or oatmeal.
I guess you’ll just have to try it out to see what I mean, if you’re curious! 🙂
You can dress it up by mixing into different flavors — such as nuts or fruit or dried fruit or chocolate chips. My family loves it plain, but I’d love to hear if you have a fun way to serve it!
I’ve also gotten a lot of questions about what kind of oats to use. Honestly, you can use any kind of oats you’d like — rolled oats, old-fashioned oats, gluten-free oats, quick oats. They all work!
My favorite are rolled oats or old-fashioned oats, but I promise you that any kind of oats will work! So just use what you have!
To see how easy it is to make a double batch of Baked Oatmeal, watch my video above. (And you can subscribe to my YouTube channel here if you’re interested in watching other shopping haul videos, recipe videos, and more money-saving videos!)
I also bought coconut oil this week since we were out. Only, I totally didn’t get a great deal on it. For some reason, I was messed up on my ounces and was thinking this was going to be a tub twice the size of this one.
So I spent $8.49 for this small tub. But oh well! Live and learn — it’s much less expensive to buy coconut oil from Walmart or Aldi or even just the grocery store. (Anyone have a great source for really inexpensive coconut oil that is high quality? I’d love to know!)
I bought these specifically because I want to make these Coconut Oil Fat Bombs. Have you tried them before?
By the way, I use my Swagbucks credit to earn free Amazon gift cards to use toward purchases like this. It’s pretty easy to earn at least $20 to $25 in free Amazon gift cards every month, just by doing simple activities every day.
You don’t need to refer anyone to earn this amount. However, if you have friends who would be interested in earning free gift cards from Swagbucks gift, be sure to use your referral link to invite them so you can earn even more!
That said, even though I did use free Amazon gift cards to purchase this coconut oil, I’m still subtracting the amount I “paid” from my $70 Grocery Budget total. The reason is that I want to keep this as relatable and doable as possible for you all.
I don’t want anyone to feel frustrated that I can stick with a low grocery budget, but the reason I can is because I’m a blogger and get more referral credit to companies as a result. ?
I Changed My Mind About Fetch Rewards
One of my readers recommended that I sign up for Fetch Rewards and a few days ago I said I didn’t like it as much as I like Ibotta. (I also sporadically use Checkout 51… though I find that it’s harder to earn $$ on Checkout 51 just because I don’t buy many things that they have offers for.)
Well, some of you piped in and gave me some great tips on how to use it better. I discovered that you can scan every single one of your receipts and, even if there’s not a participating offer on the receipt, you’ll still get at least 200 or so bonus points (that’s about $0.20). It looks like you can literally scan any receipt — or at least any receipt for groceries!
Plus, if you purchase any participating brand, you’ll get points. I thought you had to purchase a certain amount of products for the points to count. But nope, the points count regardless!
The other thing I love about Fetch Rewards is that you just scan your receipt. You don’t have to scan any barcodes from products.
And if you use coupons, they don’t count those off your point total! Plus, when you scan your receipt, they automatically detect whatever products you purchased that qualified. It’s a lot quicker than Ibotta or Checkout51!
So my advice is to go ahead and sign up for it and start scanning your receipts. Even if you only earn a few dollars per month, that’s still something!
I’ll continue to test it out and keep you posted! I’m hopeful that I can earn enough from it to “buy” a $5 to $10 Amazon gift card each month that I can use to buy more groceries and stretch my grocery budget a little bit more!
Have you signed up for Fetch Rewards yet? If not, you can sign up here and use code WW7XJ and you’ll get a bonus 2,000 points (worth $2).
Total spent so far this week: $37.44
Total left to spend: $32.56
Rebates: $0.25 for submitting a receipt to Ibotta
(I also did a big Kroger shopping trip today — I hope to post about that trip tomorrow. But here are the totals as of Thursday.)
