I think I might actually start meal planning. I put it off because I thought it was not for me. It was too restrictive. And it is. I’d rather just go up and down each isle and buy what looks good, then make whatever I’m feeling for dinner. But, turns out that’s a little pricier than we would like it to be. I may have spent almost $800 on groceries this month :/
Do you know what my biggest dream right now is? To be a famous blogger. That’s kind of embarrassing, but I really love this little space I have.
I’m currently trying to reach some personal goals that I have had for a long time. I decided that if I can reach them, I’m going to buy myself this.
Ellen has decided that I am a regular old standup comedian. She thinks it is particularly funny when I tell her “no”. This should be fun.
Mike bought be some hanging plants for Mother’s Day. I got a Mexican Heather and a Verbena plant. Some unidentified birds have taken up residence in the Mexican Heather and built the most perfect nest. I do NOT enjoy birds all that much, but their nests are so cool. (And, for the record, it’s not the birds themselves I hate. It is more the possibility that they are going to get stuck in my hair. Is that weird?)
I’m on the hunt for more blog readin’. If you have any faves, would you be a dear and let me know? Thanks.
Mike and I are going to a homeschooling conference tonight and tomorrow. I don’t know if homeschooling is going to be the right fit for us or not, but we want to start checking it out now before it is the Tuesday after Labor Day 2016.
For more Quick Takes, visit Jen.

I love that picture of the bird’s nest! :)
Thank you! And thanks for stopping by and commenting :)
Meal planning is SUCH a pain, totally restrictive, but seriously saves in grocery money! We used to spend several hundred more dollars than we do now. Currently, we are at about $75 a week with some discount stores and meal planning. Well worth it, but totally a pain! I keep thinking I will appreciate it one day! :)
I agree. I will thank myself when we finally hit our budget mark. I am in the process of writing down our “usuals” to make it easier. Hopefully that will help! I have a couple of meal planning resources I love too: My Family Meal Planner and Pocket Full of Posies! Thanks for the comment :)
good luck with your goals!! you are on your way to becoming a famous blogger! I plan our weekly meals…I have been doing it for so long it doesn’t take any time and save so much time and $…I buy the sale stuff and plan from there…
I am your newest follower..pls follow back if you can.
love the beautiful Robin eggs!
Thanks for stopping by and for your encouraging comment! I am looking forward to checking out your corner of the Internet :)
p.s. our book club all enjoyed the Potato Society book…I think everyone of us…enjoy reading!!
I’m almost done with it…if I can just stay awake long enough one of these night :)
Oh wow! Good luck with your meal planning! It’s a great idea and pretty frugal too! And I love number two! ;) I’m a new follower from blog hops everyday!
Come visit me at: http://sharmartinez.blogspot.com/
xoxo -Shar
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Shar. Can’t wait to visit :)
just found my way over here from Eat Yourself Skinny – not a crazy dream to want to be a famous blogger! Well, I hope not, cause I’ve got the same dream!!
I’d love you to visit me: http://www.happyfoodhealthylife.com
I totally love this post! I’m a new follower from aloha Friday and I would love for you to come visit! http://travisandjessicacox.blogspot.com
1) we tried meal planning…and failed miserably. The other problem is since I work at 3:30 sometimes cooking a meal and then microwaving it, is just not the same. So we tend to eat separate meals. And then quickly realize by the weekend we have no food.
2) One of my favorite gossip blogs started off small so call her happy can be the next big thing :)
4) Hahahaha I can’t wait for you to be back in MI
5) I hate birds. I think we have a nest in our mess of a bush in our front yard
7) A part time nurse I work with home schools her kids. It seems challenging but she enjoys it and so do her kids. They still do extra curricular activities outside the house so they have plenty of friends and socialization.
#1 – We are awful about this. However we do just cook “whatever is in the house” which is almost as good? I used to mp more but then ppl were all eww i don’t want chicken tonight I want pasta so I gave up. I did make a SUPER cute meal plan board last week that I posted about today :)
#2 – ME TOO!! When I was unemployed and blogging I was like if only I could be like xyz blogger then I wouldn’t have to look for a job and could just work from home everyday!! I soon found out those “famous” bloggers literally work 20 hours a day so I’ll take my 9-5 job anyday :)
You can see my mp board here : http://thecatholiccouponer.com/2012/05/7-quick-takes-friday-volume-30/
I actually started meal planning before baby and marriage. I just didn’t have the money. This worked for me. It’s alway altering, and now that I won’t be working, I get even more creative
1) I always started with what wa on sale at (insert grocery store here). If ground sirloin is on sale that week, then I look for recipes that go with that. We have a deep freeze, so we’d buy extra meat on sale, freeze, and then use it later in the month too. That way, when I get to week 4 in the month, cash is short, and I want real food, I can thaw good meat rather than hot dogs
2) I actually “planned” two weeks of meals when I started…paycheck to paycheck. Yes, it’s more time consuming in the beginning, but now we have go to meals and ingredients, and I actually only need 15 mins to plan a grocery trip to get the things I just need, rather than every ingredient for a good recipe.
3) I shop for veggies and dry foods separate. Slightly more time consuming on shopping day, saves for the two week mark. Now that it’s summer it doesnt seem so crazy as when I do it in the winter. I go to ninos in the winter, and hit kroger or meijer on the way home. If you go to a really good produce shop, it lasts closer to the two weeks, and doesn’t go bad. Meijer actually holds their produce in the back for a few weeks, so that’s why it spoils quicker. I’ve actually found deli meet is cheaper at good produce stores too…not sure why though.
4) I started with the cooking magazine cooks country vs a cook book. They send new recipes ever month that are 30 mins or less, and they are close to gourmet but really easy. I didn’t feel confined to the same things, and, while i meal planned I got to read a really good magazine! Bonus!
5) even though it get confining, I always budgeted one “fun” thing that I didn’t plan on needing but just wanted that freedom to be able to pick something I wanted when I saw it. Sometimes it was cookies, juice, gormet gummy bear…whatever I whimed, I budgeted that 5 dollars and I had 5 dollars worth of fun to my confining list!
Like I said, this has changed now that I’ve got my system, and I really like it now. I’m probably an 80 or 90 dollar a week shopper, however, if I’m really on the ball with the sales, I’ve done it in 50 to 60 a week. ( warning though, if you think about it, when we go shopping at meijer or kroger, I end up getting non food items we need..cleaning, laundry, etc…I have to budget that separately. Not sure if you were combining, but to be fair, our bills do go over 100 with non food.). Good luck! Enjoy the farmers markets!
Fun post. I love the mixer bling. What’s your favorite color?
New follower here. :) You had me at $800+ in groceries… I’m not a meal planner but for our family of 4 and 2 dogs limit our weekly grocery budget to about $50.00- depending on what sales are going on and if there are stores in my area doubling more coupons than usual… that can make for a higher spending week because I will stock up. Then I try to have a few ideas of meals to cook based off of what we have on hand.
We have birds nesting in our hanging basket too… that time of year! Love it!
Love it you could link up with Weekend Blog Walk also… http://www.athometake2.blogspot.com. Some great blogs have linked up already. I’d love to have you as a Featured Blog Host one week. That would give you some extra traffic too.
And then you can babysit! She’ll never know the difference!
man! i need to get down to that kind of budget. it is a pretty budget :)
hm. im thinking a dark teal, a lighter magenta color/dark pink and a golden yellow. my mixer is red. what do you think? any suggestions?
thanks for the recommendation! i am going to go take a look over there right now. hot friday date night with the blogosphere!
With your red mixer, I like, ice blue, persimmon and light yellow :)
Great picture. Good luck with the blog and homeschooling. I am a new follower via Blog Hops Everyday. Please check out my blog as well. Have a great weekend.
http://lovejoyjunction.blogspot.com/
A great blog that I wake up to read every day is thefrugalgirl.com. I find her to be quite inspiring… She also writes quite a bit about her homeschooling experience.
Hi Jessica! Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I’m going to head on over to your blog and check it out. I am excited to link up, and would love to be featured. Let me know if we can ever make it happen :)
ok. so same colors – just a different family. you’re the expert!
Oh, I loved reading every one of these 7 and the blue eggs in the nest– ahhh.
Aloha,
Following ya from THe ALOHA Friday HOP! Thanks for joining the fun and if you’re up for a bit of a whacky ride come join us at localsugarhawaii.com.
xoxo,
Nicole
localsugarhawaii.com
So glad to have found your blog! My husband and I toss around the homeschool idea, and we don’t even have kids yet! :P (Sadly, we also spent close to $800 on groceries and such this past month…and it’s just the two of us. Hopefully your couponing post combined with the recipe / meal planning binder I’m working on will change that!) Looking forward to reading more of what you’ve got to say! (*You mentioned that you are looking for a little more blog reading as well…I’d love for you to stop by and check mine out. I’m just kind of getting back into the swing of things now that school is out for the summer, it’s my fav hobby too!) http://keepcalmandloveon.wordpress.com
Thanks for commenting, Heather. I’m looking forward to stopping by your place :)
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