It's been a while

Sorry All,

I know it's been a while since I've posted. Three Birthdays, Two Fathers, One Anniversary (ours), the 4th of July, and a Family Reunion all within the next five weeks! Oh yeah, I'm hostessing a Baby Shower for a good friend of mine in two weeks, right in the middle of everything else. I think I may loose my mind!

Being that this is a blog about saving money, here's a look at how I control the financial chaos that could potentially descend upon us.

1. Our Anniversary - This is the only one I'm not sure about...my hubby has made plans and I'm affearded.

2. My Father-in-laws Birthday - Back when our youngest was a newborn my Father-in-law bought him a Tulane t-shirt, Tulane being my FIL's Alma Matter. This year what I'm going to do is take that same shirt, embroider the baby's name and birth date on the back and make a small throw pillow out of it. The pillow will be stuffed with other baby clothes that were too stained to go to the thrift store or freecycle.

3. Father's Day - Dad's are getting their vehicles washed by their son's. My hubby and his brothers are washing my FIL's car and my children and I are washing, cleaning, and vacuuming my husbands truck.

4. The soon to be 12 year old's birthday - The only thing he wants for his birthday this year is a guitar. He made the Honor Roll for more than half the school year so we are getting him a guitar and lessons. This is where Freecycle comes in really handy. We got him are really nice guitar for free although we did have to buy him a case for it which ran us $100.00.

I'm making the cake this year and we're just having a few friends over for a little get together.

5. The 4th of July - We're headed over to a friends house to party this year. I'm bringing a frozen Strawberry dessert that is cheap easy and tastes wonderful. (I'll post that recipe later)In the past we just pack up a picnic dinner and go sit out on the levee and watch the fireworks. It's a lot of fun and if the wind is blowing we bring kites to fly while we wait for the sun to go down and the show to begin.

6. The Family Reunion - I'm making a big ole pot of Gumbo for the family...we're talking probably 4 chickens and a whole box of sausage 3 lbs of onions, a boat load of garlic, and a whole bunch of celery, red & green bell peppers. Are you hungry? I'm getting there.

7. The Baby Shower - I'm pretty proud of my ingenuity on this one. The decorations are going to be Baby Clothes hanging up on a clothes line. I got the idea while in the local party store looking a decorations. They sell for $10 a strand garland that looks like baby clothes only really really small (and of no practical value). What I've done is gotten real clothes line and real baby clothes (freecycle) and we are decorating all the walls with the super cute baby clothes. I picked up some fake flowers, butterfly's and bumble bees which I'm going to hot glue to the clothes pins. I'll make sure to post up some pictures from the shower.

That pretty much sum's up the majority of my summer!

For those that might not know Freecycle is a yahoo group that has branches all over the country. If you're not on Freecycle I would highly suggest you sign up, I have both received lots of things that I've needed and given lots of stuff that I didn't need to good homes.

That's about all I can put up right now, the baby just woke up.

Food Stamp Challenge Day 1

Breakfast
Frosted Mini Wheats - Free (Winn Dixie had BOGOF and I had a BOGOF coupon from being a member of http://www.vocalpoint.com/ )
Milk - $3.49 1 gal (Winn Dixie)
Banana - $1.97 (Winn Dixie $0.69 lb)

Lunch
Hot Dogs - $0.99 (Winn Dixie BOGOF @ $2.99 with $1.00 off 2 pks)
Hot Dog Buns - $0.98 (Save A Lot)
Sliced Cheese - $1.00 (Winn Dixie on Sale for $2.00 with $1.00 off coupon)
Mac & Cheese - $1.00 ( Winn Dixie 10 for 10 sale)
Cool Aide - $0.15 (Winn Dixie 10 @ $0.25 with $1.00)
Sugar - $1.79 (Walgreens $2.29 with $0.50 coupon 5lb bag)

Snack
Apple Slices - $2.50 (Winn Dixie 3lb bag)
Peanut Butter - $1.64 (Walgreens BOGOF $3.29)

Dinner
Shrimp Fettuccine
Shrimp - $3.99 (Winn Dixie on sale reg $6.99)
Alfredo Sauce in Jar - $2.95 (Winn Dixie $3.95 with $1.00 off coupon)
Fettuccine Pasta - $1.24 (Winn Dixie $1.79 with $0.55)
Salad - $1.99 (Winn Dixie BOGOF $3.99)
Salad Dressing - $0.27 (Winn Dixie $1.77 with $1.50 Coupon)
Iced Tea - $2.50 (Walgreens 2 for $5.00 100ct box)

Total so far is $28.00, however several of these items will be used in more than one meal
milk, bananas, hot dogs, buns, sugar, apples, peanut butter, shrimp (used 1/2 pack), salad, tea.

My Fox 8 Interview

Harvesters & BeCentsAble Food Stamp Challenge

Well, most of the items are moved out of my pantry and out into the garage pantry. I'm gearing up to start the Food Stamp Challenge, where for one week (June 2-10) my family will live off of the average food stamp benefits for a family of four. This particular challenge is being sponsored by Harvester's of Kansas City MO and BeCentsAble.net. In the near future I'm going to be contacting our branch of Harvester's as well as the media to see if they would like to sponsor the same here. In the mean time all the information for the current challenge including recipes can be found at www.harvesters.org/GetInformed/Index.asp?Reference=FoodStampChallenge2007 and you can register at http://www.becentsable.net/ While you are there check out the Grocery Gathering and BeCentsAble in the Media and find an Educator near you.

If you are in the Greater New Orleans Area and would like to schedule a workshop you can contact me at centsable.ann@gmail.com