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Money Saving Mom

Money Saving Mom®

Saving Families Money Since 2007

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Shared May 14, 2018 comment

What I Read & Watched This Past Week

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What I Read & Watched This Past Week

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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.)

 

We really enjoyed Timeless: Season 1, so this past week we’ve been watching Season 2 of Timeless. We all love history and mystery and this show does a great job of weaving enough history into things to not make it super sci-fi, but to also keep you intrigued and guessing.

Note: I’d say that this show is in between PG and PG-13. Silas is a little young for it, but the girls really enjoy it — but we also have let them watch quite a few PG-13 movies with us based upon their maturity level and because they aren’t highly sensitive. As always, do what is best for you, your family, and your kids.

This past week, I finished In the Middle of the Mess and found it had a lot of inspirational sections. It’s the story of Sheila Walsh — a well-known Christian author and speaker. Her honesty and vulnerability in this book is so encouraging.

If you’ve ever struggled with depression, suicidal thoughts, or just felt like you were so broken and were probably the only person who felt these things, I think you’ll be really encouraged with this book.

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.

What did you read and watch this past week? Any books or movies or shows you really think I need to read or watch?

Shared May 14, 2018 comment

Get over $5800 of blogging resources + $487 of bonuses for just $97 total!

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Get over $5800 of blogging resources + $487 of bonuses for just $97 total!

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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Shared May 13, 2018 comment

Slow Day: Week 19

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Slow Day: Week 19

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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 — and I’ll let the pictures almost 100% speak for themselves, instead of giving many explanations. 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 started the morning by cleaning the kitchen.

A clean kitchen makes me so happy!

This book is really making me think.

Taking a leisurely bath with soaking salts is one of my favorite things!

I thawed the frozen buttermilk to use for the waffles for dinner.

Lunch — made entirely with markdowns I got at Kroger!

 

And then I headed to my hair appointment.

One of my favorite things about getting my hair done? Having uninterrupted time to read! I enjoyed this book.

When I came home, I got to do a little more reading (in bed!) before it was time to focus on afternoon projects and making dinner

Silas and I had made waffles for dinner.

I cut up some marked down oranges that needed to be used up.

And then we made bacon to go with the waffles and oranges for dinner.

I headed out after dinner to meet my Discipleship Small Group. We’re meeting almost every Wednesday evening over the summer just because we love hanging out!

Jesse helped Silas with his 4th quarter project and they finished the Paris cityscape while I was gone.

And Kaitlynn learned how to make these beautiful paper flowers!

Freezer Cooking on a $70 weekly grocery budget. This is SO impressive and inspiring!! Check out everything she made in just a couple hours!
Shared May 12, 2018 comment

Freezer Cooking Day: Crockpot Sausage & Peppers, Slab Apple Pie, Apple Pie Filling, Muffins, Ziti, and Taco Meat

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Freezer Cooking Day: Crockpot Sausage & Peppers, Slab Apple Pie, Apple Pie Filling, Muffins, Ziti, and Taco Meat

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Freezer Cooking on a $70 weekly grocery budget. This is SO impressive and inspiring!! Check out everything she made in just a couple hours!

Our garage freezer was almost empty 2 weeks ago. I decided to challenge myself to see if I could slowly fill it up — on our $70/week grocery budget.

This is one way you can save SO much money. Buy ahead when things are on a low, low price and you’ll rarely ever pay full price for anything. Then, use what you already have on hand in the freezer/fridge/pantry as the basis for your meals and freezer cooking.

I did an impromptu freezer cooking day on Tuesday and here’s what I made (well, “freezer cooking day” might be a bit of an overstatement since I actually only spent a little over two hours on this cooking and the clean up! But hey, “freezer cooking day” sounds better so we’ll go with it!)

We had a bunch of peppers and some onions that I had gotten marked down, so I combined them with some sausage I had gotten for $1.99 per package plus a little celery I had left in the fridge to make sausage and peppers in the Crock-pot. I cooked this on low most of the day. We ate half for dinner (served over rice) and I froze the rest for another day.

I had a bunch of apples that I’d gotten marked down at Kroger over the past few weeks and turned them into one of our favorite recipes — Slab Apple Pie! I baked it and we froze it to have on hand for quick desserts in the next two months when hosting guests!

I had enough apples left over to make a bag of Apple Pie Filling (sliced apples with lemon juice and cinnamon/sugar).

I used some marked down bananas I had gotten recently and stuck in the freezer to make some amazing Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.

I used our favorite Banana Bread recipe and just added some chocolate chips to the batter. My kids love these in their lunches and they also make great snacks. We store them in the freezer and then just pull them out as we need them!

We had some cream cheese that needed to be used up and some blueberries in the freezer, so I searched online for recipe ideas and found this one.

I taste-tested one and it was delicious! I stuck these in a freezer bag and put them in freezer fit quick snacks!

The Final Results of My Freezer Cooking Day:

And I did a little bit more freezer cooking on Thursday and Friday, too…

We had frozen cottage cheese and browned sausage I had gotten marked down + pasta sauce in the fridge that needed to be used up and pasta I’d gotten for $0.49/box, so I found a deal on mozzarella cheese and made 3 pans of Ziti. One for dinner that night and two for the freezer.

I found ground turkey marked down to $1.99 per pound, so I bought 2 pounds and browned them with homemade taco seasoning and stuck two bags of taco meat in the freezer.

It makes me so happy to see that our garage freezer is starting to fill up a little bit! I’m going to keep challenging myself to add more deals and freezer meals to our garage freezer every week without spending more than our $70 grocery budget.

We’ll see how long it takes to fill it up! (And of course, we’ll be eating some what’s in this freezer every week, upping the challenge even more!)

I love looking at saving money as a fun challenge! This makes my competitive side come out in a good way AND (in our super lean years) it kept me from feeling trapped!

Instead of saying, “Ugh! This is all the $$ we have to spend!” Change your perspective and say, “How well can we do on this small amount?!”

Have you done any freezer cooking recently? What are your favorite recipes to stick in the freezer? Any suggestions on recipes I should try soon?

P.S. See my previous Freezer Cooking Sessions here.

Shared May 12, 2018 comment

Does Healthy Food Really Cost More?

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Does Healthy Food Really Cost More?

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

If you feel frustrated that you can’t eat a nutritious, wholesome diet on a budget, you’ll definitely want to check out this super interesting post that Laura from Heavenly Homemakers put together!

In it, she sets out to prove that healthy food actually does NOT cost more than processed food! And she uses goldfish crackers to prove it!

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

Click here to sign up!
Shared May 12, 2018 comment

Brigette’s $58 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan for 6

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Brigette’s $58 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan for 6

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Aldi

2 64-oz cartons Orange Juice – $3.38

1 gallon Whole Milk – $1.36

1 16-oz carton Whipping Cream – $1.55

1 5-lb bag All-Purpose Flour – $1.15

1 5-lb bag Self-Rising Flour – $1.25 (I wrote “bread flour” on the list, and this is what my husband came home with.🙂 Oh well, we will use it!)

1 box Pure and Simple Bars – $3.99

2 boxes Macaroni and Cheese – $0.50

1 canister Parmesan Cheese – $2.29

1 pkg Taco Mix Seasoning – $0.35

1 jar Organic Apple Cider Vinegar – $1.99 (35.06)

1 16-oz bag Mini Cucumbers – $1.69

1 3-lb bag Pink Lady Apples – $3.39

1 pkg Baby Lettuce – $1.79

1 3-ct pk Multi-Colored Peppers – $2.49

2 pkgs Baby Carrots – $1.58

2 1-lb pkg Asparagus – $2.98

1 head Cauliflower – $1.95

1 pkg Radishes – $0.49

1 pkg Zucchini – $1.45

1 16-oz pkg Medjool Dates – $3.99

1 pkg Broccoli Crowns – $1.45

1 jar Green Olives – $0.95

1 large tub Organic Spring Mix – $3.79

1 bag Lemons – $2.75

1 32-oz pkg Spaghetti – $1.09

1 pkg Hamburger Buns – $0.65

1 pkg Hot Dog Buns – $0.59

Total: $50.88

Harris Teeter

All of the things in the picture were bought earlier in the week when Harris Teeter was running a 3-day Double Dollar Coupon event, so these deals are no longer available. I wasn’t able to make it to the store until the final day of the sale, so they were out of many of the freebies, but I still was happy with what I got (especially the free Sola ice cream and ice cream bars ;))!

Total after Coupons and Rebates: $7.25

Grocery Total for the Week: $58.13

Weekly Menu Plan

Breakfasts

Everyone is responsible for making/cleaning up their own breakfast. Choices include:

Cereal, Oatmeal, Fruit, Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins (recipe from a church cookbook), Scrambled/Fried/Boiled Eggs, Veggie Omelets, Toast (Easy Whole Wheat Bread)

Lunches

Refried Bean with Cheese, Cucumbers, Apples x 2

Rice Cakes with Peanut Butter, Peppers, Applesauce x 2

Pasta with Cheese, Carrots, Applesauce

Leftovers x 2

Dinners

Three Cheese Spaghetti Bake, Make Ahead Butterhorns, Tossed Salad, Roasted Broccoli, Chocolate Sheet Cake, Ice cream (Mother’s Day)

Italian Chicken, Tossed Salad, Simple Strawberry Muffins

Grilled Hamburgers (I’ll use a combo of ground venison and ground turkey since we still have plenty of both in our freezer stash), Baked French Fries, Steamed Cauliflower, Pineapple (leftover from last week)

Pan-Fried Fish (My guys are going fishing this weekend!), Macaroni and Cheese, Asparagus

Cheesy Hashbrown Potatoes with Ham (I will follow the recipe but add diced ham), Asparagus, French Breakfast Puffs

Venison Roast in the Crockpot, Green Beans, Baked Potatoes, Buttered Steamed Carrots

Leftovers, Roasted Parmesan Zucchini

Shared May 11, 2018 comment

I spent $68.36 on groceries this week!

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I spent $68.36 on groceries this week!

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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.). 

You can see all of my $70 Grocery Budget Update posts here. For live updates, be sure to follow my Instagram Stories.

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.

One of the things I’m loving about this $70 Grocery Budget Challenge is that it’s inspiring me to look through our cupboards and freezers and find odds and ends of items that I forgot we had.

For instance, I found this half bag of Great Northern Beans last night in one of our cupboards. I had planned that we were going to go out to dinner tonight, but when I saw that bag of beans, I decided to take a raincheck on the eating out plans and make sausage and beans in the Crockpot instead.

I used this recipe for inspiration and cooked the beans for three hours and then chopped up the sausage and mixed it in. I already taste-tested it and it’s super yummy!

Another thing I’m loving about this challenge is that it’s encouraging me to think outside my usual box. As you all know, I drink a gallon of lemon water every day. And that means that I go through a LOT of lemon juice — to the tune of one 32-oz. bottle every 8-10 days.

A few of my readers told me that Dollar Tree has lemon juice… why had I never thought to look there?? Sure enough, Jesse was there last night with Kaitlynn and I had him check and they had 32-oz. bottles for $1. Woot!

I had been buying lemon juice for $2.49 at Kroger, so I was thrilled to discover this much cheaper option! And I realized that this one simple change will save me at least $40+ over the next year!!

You guys! Never stop looking for creative ways to stretch your grocery budget further and save on those things you buy all the time. The savings can really add up!

Dollar Tree Shopping Trip — $2.20

2 bottles lemon juice — $1 each + tax

I ran by Kroger this morning and was excited to find a few deals to round out my grocery spending for this week (I allot $70 per week and my weeks run Saturday to Friday). I didn’t need to buy anything, but I still had $13+ to spend, so I wanted to go ahead and spend it on some snack items and other things that were on a great deal that we could use over the next 1-3 weeks.

(By the way, this is one way that we save a LOT — I try to always be buying ahead when items are on great deals. Even though it means my grocery purchases don’t necessarily match what we’re eating that week, it means that we have a variety of items to base our menus on and it means that we are rarely paying full price for most items!)

Friday Kroger Shopping Trip — $12.33

  • 2 bags of Goldfish Crackers — $0.99 each when you buy 4 participating items
  • 3 bags of Quaker Rice Snacks — $0.67 each when you buy 4 participating items
  • Lindt chocolate — Free Friday Download coupon
  • 2 boxes of Barbara’s cereals — on sale for $1.99 when you buy 4 participating items, used $1 off coupons = $0.99 each after coupon and sale
  • 1 bag of apples –marked down to $0.99
  • 2 pounds of ground turkey — marked down to $1.99 each
  • Huggies wipes — $0.99 when you buy 4 participating items, used $0.50/1 Kroger Digital coupon, $0.49 after sale and coupon
  • Total with tax: $12.33

I made some DIY Taco Seasoning and browned the ground turkey with it.

And then I let it cool and stuck them into two freezer bags and froze them — and two more dinners are in the freezer!

Our garage freezer was almost empty after we moved and I’m excited to slowly be filling it back up with freezer meals. We now have Chorizo burritos, 2 pans of lasagna, 2 bags of Taco Meat, and 1 bag of sausage/onions/peppers to serve over rice.

My Grocery Total For This Week: $68.36

Cash back: $0.25 from Ibotta for submitting my receipt, $1.50 from Ibotta for buy 2 cups of Fage yogurt, and $1 from Ibotta for buying Bubly, and $0.25 from Checkout 51 for buying Tortilla Chips last week, another $0.25 from Ibotta for submitting my receipt, $3 from Ibotta for buying 3 boxes of Kroger Ibuprofen = $6.25 in cash back!

To see all of the grocery shopping I did this week + what I spent and what we ate, be sure to check out all of my $70 Grocery Budget posts.

Want to virtually “have coffee with me” and see me talk about my grocery savings today? Watch the video above. 🙂

Shared May 10, 2018 comment

Freezer Cooking, $0.50 Romaine, Toilet Paper Stock-up!

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Freezer Cooking, $0.50 Romaine, Toilet Paper Stock-up!

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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.). 

You can see all of my $70 Grocery Budget Update posts here. For live updates, be sure to follow my Instagram Stories.

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 been having so much fun challenging myself with this $70 Grocery Budget! I forgot just how much I loved being creative like this — and it’s inspiring me to bring out a lot of my “old” tricks, like freezer cooking!

I did a completely impromptu freezer cooking day on Tuesday and am planning a comprehensive post about it tomorrow — along with links to the recipes and our thoughts on how the recipes turned out.

So many of you have been begging for me to bring back the freezer cooking posts, so I’m hopeful that this is something that I’ll be doing more of around here. I’m not sure if it will be a weekly thing or a twice a month thing. No promises yet, but just know that I’m going to attempt to bring more of those back!

(And THANK YOU for your many, many emails and direct messages and comments telling me how much you are loving the fact that I’ve been going back to “old school” blogging here. Honestly, I’m having a blast doing it… so the fact that you all are loving it makes me thrilled! It just feels right for right now. I have no idea what the future holds, but I know that this is how I’m supposed to be blogging right now since it’s giving me so much life and seems to be bringing a lot of value to you all! I love it when things are a win-win like that!)

Many of you have been pretty surprised to discover that our “grocery budget” includes non-food items like toilet paper. I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules as to what a grocery budget should include. We’ve just always included household products and hygiene products and things like toilet paper in our grocery budget because we buy them at the grocery store.

And well, it’s mostly because I’m all about efficiency… and the thought of having to try to keep multiple budgets straight when I’m buying stuff from the same store just feels so complicated to me.

However, that said, there are some items that we don’t buy at the grocery store if I can get a better deal on them from Amazon! Toilet paper is one such item. I’ve heard that Costco has great deals on toilet paper, but since we don’t have a Costco membership, I resort to Amazon instead (and I’ve heard that the prices are pretty similar!)

I try to look for deals that make the toilet paper $0.35 per double roll or less. So when I saw this deal, I jumped on it. We typically will see these types of deals a few times per month. So if you want to stock up on toilet paper, be sure you’re subscribed to our email newsletter and check it daily when it lands in your inbox and then jump on the next toilet paper deal when it comes around!

I’m hoping that this will last us at least 5-6 weeks. We’ll see!

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 toilet paper, 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. 🙂

So, with that said, here are the $$ totals for this purchase:

Amazon Toilet Paper Purchase: $16.94

I love putting together lunches entirely from mark downs! Marked down bread, marked down ham, marked down bell peppers, and marked down yogurt. Boom!

We made waffles, bacon (from the freezer that I picked up on that great sale a few weeks back), and clementines that I got marked down a few weeks back.

We learned how to cook bacon in the oven a few years ago and it is the best ever.

By the way, I always keep oranges and citrus fruit to use up last when I get mark downs because they keep for much longer than most other fruit. I think we’ve had these for at least 3-4 weeks?

When I was at Kroger, I spotted this deal on Mom Best Cereals — you can get them for $1.29 per box, without coupons. Which is a good deal on these. I actually didn’t buy any because I got cereal for $0.99 per box with coupons (see below). But this would be a pretty good deal if you didn’t want to mess with coupons.

Thursday Kroger Shopping Trip — $23.44

  • Romaine Hearts — marked down $0.50 each
  • 2 boxes of Barbara’s cereals — on sale for $1.99 when you buy 4 participating items, used $1 off coupons = $0.99 each after coupon and sale
  • Capri Sun — $2.49 (treat for school lunches)
  • 5 Kroger Greek Yogurt cups — marked down to $0.29 each
  • 1 bag of potatoes — marked down to $1.25
  • 1 bag of red potatoes — marked down $1
  • 1 bottle of lemon juice (for my gallon of lemon water per day habit!) — $2.49 (someone told me that Dollar Tree has 32-oz. bottles for just $1! I’m totally checking that out since I go through a bottle almost every 8-9 days!)
  • 1 bag of 4 avocados — marked down to $0.99
  • 1 gallon of milk — $2.79
  • 2 packages of Oscar Mayer hot dogs — priced at just $0.99 when you buy 4 participating items, used 2$0.55/1 Oscar Mayer Hot Dog Product printable = $0.44 per package
  • 1 package mozzarella cheese (16 oz.) — $2.49 when you buy 4 participating items
  • 3 boxes of Kroger Ibuprofen — priced at just $0.99 when you buy 4 participating items, get $1 box back from Ibotta
  • Total with tax: $23.44

I made Baked Ziti for dinner — inspired by the fact that I got all those boxes of pasta for $0.49 per box recently.

I also had a jar of pasta sauce in the fridge that needed to be used up (I had bought it a few weeks back and we had only used a little bit of it!), cottage cheese in the freezer, sausage in the freezer, and then I picked up mozzarella at a great price today.

I ended up having enough to make one pan of Ziti for dinner and two to stick in the freezer (one was pretty small so it will be for a night when not everyone is eating dinner). Oh and I just wing it when I make Ziti — I don’t use a recipe. 🙂

{In case you wonder how I can stretch an 8×8 pan to feed our family of five: I usually don’t eat much of the main dish when it has white/enriched flour in it (I’ll have a big salad with some other protein + a little ziti on the side) and then one of our kids usually only eats a few bites of the main dish (unless it’s one of their 2-3 main dishes that they like. Yes, they are the picky child and we only require that they eat a few bites of the main dish if it’s not something that they like.) We also encourage everyone to fill up on veggies/fruit and bread or whatever the sides are. :)}

Kathrynne used some of the marked down avocados to make homemade guac — yum!

She ate it for a snack with the tortilla chips we got last week for $0.99!

My Grocery Totals For This Week So Far

Total spent so far this week: $53.83
Total left to spend: $$16.17

Cash back so far: $0.25 from Ibotta for submitting my receipt, $1.50 from Ibotta for buy 2 cups of Fage yogurt, and $1 from Ibotta for buying Bubly, and $0.25 from Checkout 51 for buying Tortilla Chips last week, another $0.25 from Ibotta for submitting my receipt, $3 from Ibotta for buying 3 boxes of Kroger Ibuprofen = $6.25 in cashback!

I did a super casual live video this morning about today’s shopping trip and what I was planning to make for dinner. If you want to hang out with me like we’re having coffee, you can click above to watch it! 🙂

Shared May 9, 2018 comment

This Week’s $70 Grocery Budget & Menu Plan

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This Week’s $70 Grocery Budget & Menu Plan

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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.). 

You can see all of my $70 Grocery Budget Update posts here. For live updates, be sure to follow my Instagram Stories.

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.

Remember the Chorizo I bought recently that I said I wasn’t sure what to do with since I’d never purchased it before? Well, you all gave me LOTS of great ideas! And I ended up making Breakfast Burritos with it.

I used the eggs that I had gotten marked down and scrambled with the Chorizo.

Then I topped them with cheese.

And I rolled them up in the tortillas that I got last week for $0.49! I love it when I come up with creative ideas that are made pretty much entirely with ingredients that I’ve gotten on a great deal!

I had some extra burritos, so I froze them for quick lunches for Jesse. I thought the burritos were so-so, the kids weren’t really into them, but Jesse loved them!

Saturday Kroger Shopping Trip — $13.45

    • Club Soda — $0.69
    • Salad blend — marked down to $1.79
    • Fage yogurt — marked down to $0.49 each, got $0.75 Ibotta rebate per cup
    • Bubly Sparkling Water — on sale for $1.99 when you purchase 4 participating items, used $2/2 peelie coupons, plus submitted for $1/2 Ibotta rebate
    • Chocolate Birthday Cake (for Silas’ Birthday) — $5
    • Total with tax: $13.45

Silas turned 9 this past week and he came up with a really creative idea for an inexpensive birthday party.

He invited a few of his friends to come to Home Depot to their free Kid’s Workshop on Saturday morning. (This was 100% his idea!)

The kids loved it and they had a fun project they had made (windmill planters) to bring home. Then they came back to our house for lunch and cake (that I got at Kroger for $5!) and playing together.

I also took Silas out to Baskin-Robbins for a birthday treat (you can get a FREE scoop on your birthday!) for our traditional mother-child Birthday Date that all the kids look forward to!

Check out this list for over 60 different freebies you can get on your birthday.

This Week’s Super Simple Menu Plan

This menu is subject to change a little if I find some great deals or markdowns! ?

Breakfasts

Cereal, Oatmeal, Eggs, Fruit, Toast

Lunches

Ham & Cheese Sandwiches, Chips, Fruit, Veggies, Capri Sun, Banana Bread, Cream Cheese Blueberry Muffins, (for the kids)

Leftovers, Chorizo Breakfast Burritos (for Jesse)

Leftovers, Salad (for me)

Dinners

Monday — Meatballs, Roasted Broccoli, Oranges
Tuesday — Sausage/Peppers/Onions in the Crockpot, Brown Rice, Rolls
Wednesday — Waffles, Bacon, Fruit
Thursday — Baked Ziti, Peas, Fruit
Friday — Dinner Out
Saturday — French Toast, Sausage, Fruit
Sunday — Snack-y Dinner (fend for yourself — cereal, popcorn, etc.)

Total spent so far this week:  $13.45

Total left to spend: $56.55

Cash back so far: $0.25 from Ibotta for submitting my receipt, $1.50 from Ibotta for buy 2 cups of Fage yogurt, and $1 from Ibotta for buying Bubly, and $0.25 from Checkout 51 for buying Tortilla Chips last week.

In case you missed it, I spent $67.08 on groceries last week. And here was our menu for last week.

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

Click here to download!
Want to bless others, but you're on a tight budget? Read this post for inspiration and practical ideas!
Shared May 9, 2018 comment

8 Ways to Bless Others On a Budget

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8 Ways to Bless Others On a Budget

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Want to bless others, but you're on a tight budget? Read this post for inspiration and practical ideas!

Guest post from Angela of AngelaMillsBooks.com:

When we’re busy and on a tight budget, it’s easy to think we don’t have the time or money to bless others. But I’ve learned over the years that no matter how little I have, there is always a way to brighten someone else’s day, and in taking the focus off of myself, I end up feeling better, too.

Here are 8 different ways you could bless others… even on a tight budget!

1. Create an Envelope for Blessings

When my husband and I were following the envelope style of budgeting, I started an envelope titled Blessings. Sometimes, I’d put five or ten dollars in the envelope. Other times, we could afford more than that.

Besides the practical aspect of setting the money aside, the discipline of doing this caused me to be more aware of the needs of those around me as I looked for opportunities to bless others.

2. Give Food Gifts

I have such fond memories of my parents bringing us brown bags of groceries when I was a young, single mom… and I’ve found that most people love to be blessed in this way!

If you’re on a tight budget, the best way to give food gifts is to take a little from what you already have.

Here are a few ideas:

  • Next time you make a batch of cookies, wrap up one dozen to bring to an elderly neighbor or a teacher.
  • Tithe your grocery budget and bring a bag of groceries or a grocery card to someone who needs it.
  • When you go out for coffee, get a cheaper drink for yourself and bring a friend an unexpected coffee.
  • When you get restaurant gift cards, use them to bless others — invite a friend to lunch, surprise your husband with a date, or give it to a couple and offer to babysit their kids so they can enjoy a night out.
  • Eat a cheap dinner of noodles and take the meal you would have had to a family that could use it.
  • Share the harvest of your garden.

3. Meet a Need

There are so many basic needs that many of us are able to replenish without a second thought. However, for a low-income family, or an elderly person living on social security, these items may be a huge stress on their budget. Why not lighten their load and provide them with the occasional little gift of necessities?

When you find a great deal, buy an extra for someone that needs it.

If you’re worried about hurting the receiving family’s pride, pass the items on anonymously through a mutual friend. Or, just share that you saw a great deal and picked up some extra items with them in mind.

A few things to keep an eye out for:

  • Diapers
  • Baby food
  • Tissues
  • Paper Goods
  • School Supplies

4. Be Thoughtful

When you see something that makes you think of someone, go ahead and get it if you can afford it. If you can’t afford it, let the item inspire you to reach out to them with the thought in another way, like with a phone call or text.

Affordable ideas for thoughtful gifts:

  • Socks for someone in the hospital or about to have surgery.
  • A kindle book someone might like (ask them for their kindle address and send it their way — anyone can read it in the kindle app!)
  • A jar of honey or jam for a friend who has been extra sweet.

5. Don’t Forget About Cash

While thoughtful gifts are always fun, sometimes a little bit of cash can really turn things around for someone.

One time at church, someone anonymously put a $100 bill in my Bible during worship.

If you’re on a tight budget, $100 might not be possible, but $10 might be, and that can make a world of difference to someone who needs gas or a gallon of milk to make it through the next few days.

6. Speak Kind Words

This totally FREE way of blessing others is something we too often overlook. I know I’m guilty of thinking nice things about someone, but forgetting to mention it, or feeling too awkward to say the words. In this case, practicing going outside of your comfort zone is the only way to improve.

Next time you think something nice about someone, force yourself to say it out loud. Does a friend have a cute new haircut? Tell her. Is there a Sunday School teacher that your kid really looks forward to seeing each week? Tell them and thank them for a job well done. Did someone’s advice ring true and encourage you? Let them know.

7. Become a Note Writer

Whether via text or handwritten, everyone loves to receive encouraging notes. Send thank you notes, encouraging scriptures, or just because notes.

Because postal mail is so much rarer these days, handwritten notes are extra special. And if you use paper you already have at home, all it costs you is the price of a stamp!

8. Give Your Time

With everyone seeming so busy these days, the gift of time is more precious than ever — and always appreciated!

Here are a few ways you can bless others with your time

  • Call up a friend and say, “Let’s go get a dollar ice cream and watch the kids play at a fast food restaurant.” Don’t be afraid to be honest and let them know you’re on a tight budget.
  • Invite the “new person” in one of your groups to a park and get to know them while the kids play.
  • Invite someone over and don’t worry about how your house looks.
  • Visit someone in the hospital or at home — I still remember each person that visited me when I was hospitalized eight years ago!
  • Call someone who might be lonely and have a long chat with them.
  • Make plans to volunteer with a friend you haven’t seen in a while. Catch up while serving others.

How has someone blessed you lately?

Angela Mills is an author and homeschool mom who loves finding ways to bless others. Her book, Bless Your Husband, Creative Ways to Encourage and Love Your Man, comes out October 16. Find Angela at angelamillsbooks.com.

photo source

Shared May 7, 2018 comment

What I wish I could go back and tell myself when I was a brand new mom…

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What I wish I could go back and tell myself when I was a brand new mom…

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

{This post is sponsored by Mirum. Read my disclosure policy here.}

Just a few months ago, my oldest daughter turned 13 years old. I can hardly believe it, but I’m now parenting a teenager! It still feels like yesterday that I was brand new to motherhood.

Before my first daughter was born, I went into motherhood thinking I knew a lot about parenting and caring for babies. I didn’t expect motherhood to be a walk in the park by any means, and I knew there would be plenty of exhausting and trying days.

But I was certainly not prepared for suddenly feeling overwhelmed, scared, and even sometimes alone.

When Walmart asked me if I would write a post on encouragement to new moms, I knew exactly what I wanted to share. Because I well remember those days and I am on a mission to encourage new moms and help them to feel a little less scared and overwhelmed and alone.

With this in mind, here are 5 things I would go back and tell my then 23-year-old self…

1. You are not alone.

No matter how incompetent or unskilled you feel for this motherhood thing, I can promise, promise you that you are not alone. There are an army of other moms in the trenches with you.

Some of us may hide our struggles out of fear. Some of us may be more skilled in certain areas. Some of us may naturally have more energy or capacity.

But none of us have all our ducks in a neat and alphabetized row. We all have areas we fall short in. We all have times when we feel like we’re not doing a good enough job. We all have times when we struggle with “mom guilt”.

So, instead of trying to hide your struggles, be honest with those closest to you. Vulnerability breeds strong friendships like just about nothing else will.

2. You’ve got what it takes.

I know it doesn’t feel like you’ve got what it takes. You feel scared and unqualified. You’re overwhelmed.

Your heart is walking outside your body. You worry that you’re not doing enough. You wonder if you’re seriously messing up your child.

But I’m here to tell you: you’ve got what it takes. You can do this!

3. You won’t be this tired forever.

You’re tired of your child crying. You’re tired of waking over and over again in the night. You’re tired of doing the same things again and again.

You feel flabby and lethargic. You look in the mirror and barely recognize the woman staring back at you. You wonder if you’re ever going to be able to fit into your pre-pregnancy jeans. You wonder where all your energy went.

Trust me on this: you won’t be this tired for ever. Even though it feels like you’ll be waking up every two hours for the rest of your life and propping open your eyeballs with toothpicks to make it through the day, it won’t always be like this.

So don’t stress over tomorrow or two years from now. Get as much sleep as you can, accept any offers of help, do whatever it takes to get some shut-eye. And just power through, knowing that there is light at the end of the tunnel — and it’s called kids who sleep through the night!

Also, please know that just because your 12-month-old doesn’t sleep through the night yet even though you’ve read all the books and tried all the tactics, you’re not a bad mom. You just have a child who struggles to sleep.

Don’t beat yourself up over it. Do the best you can, keep experimenting, and know that someday soon, your child is going to figure it out.

For now, just do what you need to do to make it through — even if not everyone thinks it’s the “right” thing. You are your child’s mother. Trust your gut.

4. You are going to work yourself out of a job.

Right now, it’s completely impossible for you to imagine not changing diapers, wiping bottoms, taking little people potty, not constantly hearing “Moooommmmy!”, not having to cut everyone’s food up, not having to buckle everyone in when you get into the car, not having to give baths, get everyone dressed, and help little people brush their teeth.

But there will come a day — and it will be sooner than you believe it will be — when you start working yourself out of a job. When those little people get a little bit bigger and they start learning how to do things for themselves.

It’s a S-L-O-W process, but looking back, it seems to happen in the blink of an eye. And all of a sudden you wake up one day and your oldest is 10 years old and she’s taking over the family’s laundry, helping with the cooking, cleaning bathrooms, and asking what else she can do to help you.

That day is coming. When it does, all these years of doing what seems like the same thing over and over again will pay off… and you’ll realize that those little people are turning into capable adults who are contributing to the family in significant ways.

In ten years from now, you’re going to look back on a deeply fulfilling and happy feeling knowing that all that hard work, sleepless nights, and exhaustion was worth it.

So, as much as you might want to some days, don’t give up! The best is yet to come!

5. You don’t have to do it perfectly or the way someone else is doing it.

Take a deep breath, be the mom that you are, and embrace what’s best for you and your family. You don’t need to apologize for it or explain it. Just be you, bravely.

Comparison is the thief of joy, and it’s so easy to look around at other moms and think they have it all together. Here’s a little secret: none of us have it all together.

Perfection is a myth and motherhood will look entirely different from one family to the next.

Walmart asked me if I could write on this topic because they know that many new moms struggle and wonder whether they are making the best decisions for their kids.

I know that one area where a lot of moms struggle is when it comes to breastfeeding versus formula. I’m a huge advocate of breastfeeding and was blessed to be able to nurse all three of my kids. But I know that not all moms can and I also know we have a lot of moms who are adoptive moms.

Which is why I am grateful that there are options out there for high-quality formula that is more affordable. One simple way to save on formula is through buying store-brand formula.

If you’re looking for a way to save money on formula, Walmart offers a really great non-GMO infant formula at lower store-brand prices! Plus, there is an Ibotta rebate available for it right now! AND, you can win a $200 Walmart gift card!

There are four non-GMO formulas to choose from that will save you up to 50% annually compared to their nutritionally similar national brands:

  • Parent’s Choice™ Infant Non-GMO Formula — Milk-based formula that provides complete nutrition for your baby’s first year 0-12 months and features a blend of nutrients that supports your baby’s health and brain development. Nutritionally comparable to Enfamil® Infant Non-GMO!
  • Parent’s Choice™ Advantage® Non-GMO Infant Formula — This infant formula is designed to be more like breastmilk and features a blend of nutrients that support your baby’s growth and development from birth to 12 months of age. Nutritionally comparable to Similac Advance Non-GMO.
  • Parent’s Choice™ Sensitivity® Infant Formula — Designed for babies with fussiness and gas because of lactose intolerance. Nutritionally comparable to Similac® Sensitive®.
  • Parent’s Choice™ Gentle® Formula — Milk-based reduced lactose formula with easier to digest proteins that contains 25% less lactose than standard, milk formula. Nutritionally comparable to Enfamil® Gentlease® Non-GMO.

And right now there is an Ibotta offer to save $3 off any of the formulas listed above! So not only will you score the savings of the store-brand formula, but you’ll also save on top of that with this Ibotta deal!

Win a $200 Walmart gift card!

What’s your best advice for a new mom? Use the widget below to share it with a community of other moms, and you’ll be able to enter a giveaway for your chance to win a $200 Walmart gift card! There are 25 gift cards up for grabs!

The Parent’s Choice Formula #MomsKnowsBestWM Sweepstakes

Shared May 6, 2018 comment

A Peek Into Our Lives This Past Week (+ an update on how I’m doing on my 2018 goals)

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A Peek Into Our Lives This Past Week (+ an update on how I’m doing on my 2018 goals)

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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! ?

Kaitlynn had Spirit Week this past week at school and had fun dressing up for the different themes every day. Monday was Western Day and here was what she wore!

I made a batch of our favorite Banana Bread — but I accidentally baked it for too long. It was still yummy! I sliced it and stuck it in the freezer for quick snacks.

And I also made up a crockpot recipe that we really enjoyed!

I was so excited to find Sparkling Water for just $0.99 and Flowers for just $0.49 and $1.49 marked down at Kroger! Speaking of markdowns, I wrote a comprehensive post on How to Find Markdowns at Kroger.

I’m so excited about how our library bookshelves are coming together. They should be finished in the next few days! I can’t wait to show you the final product — and I can’t wait to get our books organized on these shelves!

Silas celebrated his 9th birthday by inviting a few of his closest friends to go with him and the girls to Home Depot for their free Kid’s Workshop (this was all his idea! He told me, “It will mean that the party is basically free!”)

We also had our traditional Mother-Son ice cream date. And we did some other fun things together as a family to celebrate and to celebrate him!

Don’t mind us, we’re just the crazy family who decided to spend 30 minutes having way too much fun trying to jump over these posts — while all sorts of people were walking by!

Swipe on the photos here to see all of our jumping — including one of my extremely graceful attempts. ??

And yes, it took me four tries to get it — one of which could have sent me to the ER since I almost landed on my head.

But am I a quitter? Nope. Not when everyone else in the family did it. You better believe Mama ain’t gonna be upstaged like that. ?

We might not feed our kids an all organic diet. They might sometimes go to bed an hour later than they probably “should”. We might barely make it to school on time some days. And we might have just finally gotten caught up on laundry after being behind for two weeks. But ya’ll, our post-jumping skills are on point! ?

The older my kids get, the less I worry about what people say we “should” do as parents and the more I focus on seizing the spontaneous moments to laugh and have fun together, building relationships, loving my kids right where they are at, and being okay with making a complete fool of myself in order to make memories.

Something I’ve Been Thinking About

As an awkward and often insecure introvert, I’m here to tell you that relationships are WORTH IT.

I am so much healthier and happier and more wholehearted as a person because I’ve opened the door of my heart (and my home!) and welcomed people in.

If you are struggling in relationships and longing for friends but feel like you don’t know where to start, who to invite, or you just don’t know that anyone would WANT to be your friend, I so get that.

I was lonely for a lot of years and felt like maybe I just didn’t know how to be a good friend because it felt like I couldn’t ever seem to find good friends or that I was constantly blowing it when I did find someone who I thought could be a good friend.

Here’s what has made such a difference for me in the past few years:

1) Recognize the unhealthy way I’m approaching relationships — and stop trying to seek others’ approval.

2) Stop believing lies about myself (“I don’t know how to be a good friend.” etc.)

3) Embrace my gifts and unique personality and live resting in the fact that I am fully loved by God.

4) Pray for two-way relationships where there is mutual give and take.

5) Understand what a life-giving relationship looks like and believe that I am capable of being a great friend and capable of being loved well by others.

6) Initiate, initiate, initiate. Look for those who don’t already have a large friend group in place and have space in their life for relationships.

7) Go first with honesty and vulnerability. Show up as your true self — not pretending or performing in order to impress them or hope they will like you.

8) Be upfront early on about what you are hoping for in relationships.

9) Don’t be discouraged if many of the relationships you pursue don’t pan out. Keep initiating.

10) When you do find someone who could be a great friend, lean in. Prioritize time with them. Show up for them. Show up fully. When you are scared or feel like pulling back out of fear, press in. Be honest. Don’t hold back. Don’t walk on eggshells. Give them the gift of getting to know you for exactly who you are.

And when the rough patches come, don’t run away… fight for your friendship. Good friends are worth the risk!

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: 19 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: 20 notes written so far this year

4. Run 500 miles.

**Progress: 158 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 this past week!

8. Go on a family road trip.

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 started finishing out the workout room this past week.

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.

Money Saving Mom
Shared May 5, 2018 comment

I only spent $67.08 on groceries this week!!

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I only spent $67.08 on groceries this week!!

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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.). 

You can see all of my $70 Grocery Budget Update posts here. For live updates, be sure to follow my Instagram Stories.

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 only had $5.66 left in my $70 grocery budget to spend on Friday, so I had to be careful and use it sparingly. I only needed to pick up two items — distilled water for my sinus rinse (this has been the BEST thing ever — I no longer have to be on allergy meds or sinus meds because of using this daily and changing my diet!) and lemon water for my gallon of lemon water a day habit. 🙂

(I should have realized that I was almost out of both of these things earlier in the week, but I totally didn’t. That’s just life sometimes, isn’t it?!)

So, while I was at Kroger, I picked up my FREE Friday item — the picture shows the Doritos Blaze, but it’s actually good on ANY Doritos. I didn’t realize this until I got home and was talking about it on Facebook Live.

I also wanted to pick up some Kroger bandages. They are on sale for $1 per box right now AND there is a $1/2 digital coupon. Since I only had $5.66 left in my grocery budget, I just picked up two boxes since I thought they would be $0.50 each.

Well, when I went to check out, they rang up as $1 per box, but then the e-coupon took $4 off — making each box FREE! I couldn’t figure out why my total was so low until I looked carefully at my receipt.

Kroger Shopping Trip — spent $2.74

  • Doritos — Free with Free Friday Download digital coupon
  • Lemon Juice — $1.69
  • Distilled Water — $0.89
  • 4 boxes of bandages — on sale for $1 each, used $1/2 digital coupon (limit of 5 uses per card per transaction) — the coupon took off $4 (I’m not sure why!) making these FREE!
  • Total with tax: $2.74

See more details on the deals I got in the video above.

All totaled, I spent $2.74 at the store — bringing my final grocery spending total for this week to just $67.08, a few dollars under my $70 budget! YAY!

By the way, if these posts on my grocery budget have been making you frustrated or you’re feeling like, “I just can’t do what she’s doing!”, I want you to read this post I wrote.

Shared May 5, 2018 comment

Slow Day: Week 18

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Slow Day: Week 18

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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 — and I’ll let the pictures almost 100% speak for themselves, instead of giving many explanations. 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 love my steamer and use it all the time!

#reallife (The kitchen did get completely cleaned — but I forgot to get a picture of that!)

I made the Taco Meat in the morning to make dinner prep a breeze in the evening.

After doing a little cleaning and washing my hair, I headed to church for a meeting with the leaders from Discipleship Group (we discussed what worked this past year, what didn’t work, and changes for next year).

Jesse came and picked me up because we were going to go to see the Avengers movie, but because my meeting went long, we realized that we were going to get there after the movie had started, so we decided to just head home and watch a movie at home instead (we ended up trying one movie and stopping it halfway through because it was kind of a dud!)

My friend recommended this book and it’s been an interesting read so far!

We picked the kids up from school and then Kathrynne and I had chiropractor’s appointments.

Our library bookshelves are so close to being done!

As the day wore on, I was too hot in my original outfit, so I changed into a summer outfit!

I was just sort of messing with my hair to get it out of my face and then realized I liked how it looked, so I stuck some pins in it and left it!

And I broke out my yellow sandals that make me so happy!

After dinner, Kaitlynn and I headed over to our friend’s house for a girl’s night with friends!