Thursday Night Planning

I truely believe that in order to live the high life on a small budget, it takes a lot of planning. Since having my son, planning has been essential for making the most out of my weekend. Being a working mom, we don't have the casualty of just grabbing a sandwich to eat in the car and go grocery shopping on a Wednesday night. Not we have to sit down, make a meal that hits all the food groups, and give our son at least 45 minutes to eat it all (40 minutes of it is playing with his food). And then after all that, he has to be in bed by 7 and we're exhasted at well.






So Thursday night is now my planning night. I take inventory of the food items I have on hand, mainly focusing on what meats are in the freezer and what freezer meals are available if I know a particular night will be extra chaotic. Then, I get out the sales ads from the paper and write a list for each store of items we like that are a good deal. The store with the longest list is where we shop that week. This week, Kroger's won out.

This weeks meal plan:
Fri: Salads with leftover chicken and last half of salad bag
Sat: Mexican Crockpot Chicken (makes enough for two lunches as well)
Sun: Spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread
Mon: BLT Sandwiches with roasted potatoes and peaches
Tues: Tacos
Wed: (Breakfast night) Cinnamon Rolls, Eggs, and Bacon
Thur: Calzones

Here is my grocery list:
Kroger Ice Cream - $1.99 + coupon $1.00 off
Eggs - 4 for $5
(2) Cinnamon Rolls - $3 + (2) $.60 off
Goldfish - $1.50
Oscar Meyer Deli Meat - $3
Deli Creations - $1.99
Gala Apples - 2 lbs for $2
Kettle Chips - 3 for $5
(12) Yoplait Yogurts - 12 for $7 + (2) save $.80
Pop Tarts - $1.98
OJ - $2.99
Gerber Graduates - 5 for $10 + save $1.50 on one
(3) Toaster Strudel - $6 for 3 + $1.70 off in coupons
V8 Fusion - $2.99
Meow Mix Cat Food - $6 + $1.00 off
Lettuce - $1
Bananas - $2

So we will be under $45 this week. It really helped that I shopped sales before because I had almost everything on hand for the dinners this week, so all we needed was some breakfast food and lunch food which we stocked up on for the next couple weeks.



I also plan on getting my fall decorating done this weekend. In the past, we were REALLY poor, so I bought most of our decor from garage sales. I have a lot of nice stuff, but it's not exactly the look I want to go for anymore. A lot of it just has a hint of tacky to it. So this weekend I'm on a mission to find some new decor. Here is the plan for Saturday among my other errands:

8am - Mom's Market sale to get pajamas and jeans to complete Luke's fall waredrobe
9:30amam - Dollar store to check on decor
10:00am - Pick up organization books on hold at library, get new release movie, books for Luke
10:30 - Flower Factory
11:30 - Old Time Pottery
12:30 - head home, eat lunch and Luke's nap, play with Luke
6:00 dinner
7:00 Luke in bed and Todd and I decorate while enjoying some new beers we got a few weeks ago (sounds like the perfect romantic night huh?)


Sunday our mission is organization. It's going to be a lazy Sunday, but I really want to get my closet cleaned out, Todd's closet cleaned out, Luke's closet cleaned out, and the linen closet cleaned out. Let's see if I can do it while avoiding spending ridiculous amounts of money on all the organization items in stores now a days. I'll be using this article from Better Homes and Gardens as my inspiration:


http://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/storage/closets-shelves/dollar-store-closets/