October Goals Update

Household:

• Post pictures of items on Facebook garage sale site. I haven't made it completely through the bin yet, but I've been clearing more things out of the house, especially out of the kids room.  Progress is something!
• Reorganize the Legos in bins. Done! This is working pretty well so far. You can read about it here.
• Figure out laundry and budget accordingly. We have decided to do laundry at our place for the time being. It's faster and less of a hassle than driving to Jesse's aunt's house, although we did appreciate it.

Food:

• Do a no-restaurant challenge for a week. Not done officially, although I think we went out to eat maybe three or four times in the whole month.
• Be more intentional about snacks. This kind of happened, although I didn't end up making as many things as I wanted to, so we did fall back onto crackers and treats.

Parenting:

• Create a spot for Hannah at the table for meals. Done! And she started eating the pureed veggies, which she thinks are pretty tasty.
• Go through clothes, shoes, and winter gear and make sure everyone has everything needed. We ended up needing some hats and mittens, which we were able to get at the store already. The only other thing we might need is a coat/snowsuit for Hannah if she grows too much. We have a 6-9 month one that's a little big for that size, which is where she is now, so we'll see.
• Teach the kids two more songs/verses. We are in the process of learning the second verse of "Silent Night". I don't think we've started a second new song though.
• Get back to using cloth diapers more frequently. Done! What also helped me get back in the habit was that I had 11 disposables left for Matthew and about 5 days worth of waiting for an Amazon gift card on my Swagbucks account and then the couple days of shipping for the diapers to get here.  We made it, barely!
• Make a toothbrush sticker chart for the boys. Not done.

What I'm Reading...

What I'm Reading:

This Map Shows The Most Famous Book Set In Every State. (Business Insider via Simple Mom)

Finding Real Food Heroes: Real Food Isn't Easy. (Kitchen Stewardship)

Amazon.com: Must Spend $35 To Get Super Saver Shipping. (Money Saving Mom)

Leaving A Legacy Of Community And Hospitality. (Gidget Goes Home)

We Are Going To Homeschool Our Kids, But That's Only Because We Hate Education. (The Matt Walsh Blog)

What I'm Pinning (which wasn't too much this week):

• A Domestically Dreamy Kitchen. Pinned because I really like the one open shelf below the cabinets and I may incorporate that into my someday house. (I Heart Organizing)
• Several books onto my Books to Read board

Weekly Coupon Shopping

All of this week's coupon shopping is brought to you by my organ check for $40. I was asked to fill in at the last minute on Sunday, so I picked up some extras (and some essentials) with the unexpected money.

Walgreens

• 2 Peanut Butter Snickers Fun Size: 2/$5. Used $1/2 (October Walgreens) and two $1/1 printables = paid $2/2!
• 2 Coffeemate Creamers: 2/$3. Used two $0.55/1 printables = paid $1.90/2!
• Lindt Bar: $2.49. Used $5RR from last time.
• Total spent: $1.76

Target

• Gerber Formula: $23.79. Used $5/1 coupon (printed last time I got formula) = paid $18.79.
• 2 Gerber Pureed Foods: $0.99 each.
• Red Pepper: $1.19. Used 5% off Target Cartwheel and $1/1 fresh veggie Target mobile coupon = paid $0.13.
• Boo Berry Cereal: $2.50. (I normally don't pay this much for cereal, but this is my husband's favorite)
• 28 pack Angel Soft Toilet Paper (not pictured): $9.99. Used $1/1 any toilet paper Target mobile coupon, 5% off Target Cartwheel, and $0.55/1 printable = paid $8.54.
• Saved $0.10 using two of my own bags.
• Total spent: $31.66.

Other Coupon Savings:

• Hobby Lobby: Used 40% off coupon to save $1.20 off a 12-pack of gluesticks (and paid with what was left on a gift card from my birthday).
• Starbucks: Used 50% off a food item to get a cookie for the kids for only $0.75 (and paid with a gift card earned from Shopkick).

What I'm Reading...

What I'm Reading:

Evernote And Post-It Notes - The Perfect Pair. I may actually check out Evernote because of this. (Andrea Dekker)

Less Running Around, More Nesting. (Money Saving Mom)

Poem: After Two Years, I Should Be Doing Anything Else. (Simple Mom)

Don't Trick Yourself Into "Temporary" Bad Real Food Habits. (Attune via Kitchen Stewardship)

On Keeping Company. (Simple Mom)

My Super- Simple Strategy For Organizing Off-Season Clothes And Hand-Me-Downs. (The Happiest Home)

What's Wrong With A Little Mommy Guilt? (Family Your Way)

The Challenge Of Following Advice. (The Simple Dollar)

What I'm Pinning:

• Homemade Carpet Cleaner (Little House Living)
• Homemade Salted Caramel (Don't Waste The Crumbs)
• Homemade Queso Dip (Little House Living)
• DIY Magnetic Nativity Set (Christmas Your Way)
• Homeschooling 101: Methods & Styles (Confessions Of A Homeschooler)
• Hash Brown Crusted Quiche (Andrea Dekker)

Lego Organization

Sometimes I feel like Legos are a never-ending project. Jonah is currently at the stage where he likes to put the sets together following the directions, but a lot of his sets had gotten mixed together, making it hard to find the pieces.

So we decided to reorganize. We picked up seven of the small clear containers at Walmart ($0.96 each), and 2 larger blue ones ($0.97 each).  We also used a blue pencil box that we had gotten earlier, a round Ziploc container (not shown), and a bucket.

And then we sorted. We dumped out all the Legos and lost the living room for 3 days while we put the different sets back together. So now they each have their own container, with the directions tucked in too. (The old direction organization method was good for when we only had a few sets, but was not working for all the new ones). We also have a container for all the extra pieces, and one for all the mini-figures.

Now Jonah can take out one or two sets at a time to work on. It's still not a perfect system, and we do have some missing pieces, but overall, it's much better than it was.

Now I just need to find a home for them in the boys' room instead of next to the coffee table.

Menu Plan October 16-31

Fall is here! We just got pumpkins, and I'm excited to roast some pumpkin seeds for snacks.

Here's what's for dinner for the rest of the month:

(16) Wednesday: Mini Turkey Loaves, Green Beans
(17/18) Thursday/Friday: Black Bean Taco Salads
(19) Saturday: Cheesy Hashbrown Crusted Quiche
(20) Sunday: Double Smothered Chicken
(21/22) Monday/Tuesday: Veggie Minestrone Soup, Easy Cheesy Biscuits
(23) Wednesday: Loaded Baked Potatoes
(24/25) Thursday/Friday: Pinto Bean and Ground Turkey Enchiladas
(26) Saturday: Breakfast Skillets
(27/28) Sunday/Monday: Beef Stew, Simple Bread
(29) Tuesday: Thai Peanut Noodles with Chicken
(30/31) Wednesday/Thursday: Chicken Fajita Soup, Crockpot Refried Beans

I am also going to cook up another batch of granola (we go through that fast for snacking around here), and some sort of muffin.  Maybe I'll do pumpkin, since it is fall. 

What I'm Reading...

It's Not The School's Fault If Your Kid Is A Lazy Wuss. (The Matt Walsh Blog)

Is This Really A Good Deal? (Money Saving Mom)

Is Raw Milk Really The Bad Guy? Or Are We The Ones To Blame? (Don't Waste The Crumbs)

The Dangers Of Snap Decisions. (The Simple Dollar)

Less Greed, More Generosity. (Money Saving Mom)

A Letter To The World: Why We Homeschool. (Simple Mom)

Weekly Coupon Shopping

Target

Transaction #1:

• 4 Starbucks Coffee: $7.49 each, get a $10 gift card when you buy 4. Used $2/2 printable (I forgot my second one at home) = paid $27.96, got $10 gift card.
• Got $0.05 off for using my own bag = paid $27.91, got $10 gift card.
• I will also get a $10 Starbucks card for entering the 4 codes on the bags, and I could turn each one in for a free tall coffee (although I usually get specialty drinks in the stores).

Transaction #2:

• Pull-ups Jumbo Pack: $9.49. Used $2/1 mobile coupon and $3/1 (House Party booklet) = paid $4.49.
• 3 Huggies Wipes: $2.39 each. Used 3 $0.50/1 (insert), $1/1 Target mobile coupon, and two $0.50/1 Target mailer coupons = paid  $3.67/3!
• Quaker Granola Bar 3-pack: $1.00
• Powerade (not pictured): $0.59.
• 2 pound bag baby carrots (not pictured): $1.00. Used $1/1 Target mobile coupon = free!
• Got $0.05 off for using my own bag. 
• Total: $10.31. Used $10 gift card from transaction #1 = paid $0.31!

Other Coupon Shopping:

• Walgreens: 2 Pampers Jumbo Packs: $18.00. Used two $1.50/1 printables and $5.00 in points = paid $10/2!

September Goals Update and October Goals

I realized today that I never updated my September goals, or posted new goals for October.  My mommy brain is strong these days...

September Goals
Personal:

• Continue to track my eating/workouts with My Fitness Pal. Done! I want to say it told me I was at 85 days straight this week.
• Read three books. Did I read The Hunger Games series in August or the beginning of September? If it was September, I accomplished this. If not, I'm pretty sure I did not read much else this month.

Food:

• Try 1 new muffin recipe. Nope.
• Try 1 new snack recipe. Nada.
• Make a cool Lego cake for Jonah's birthday. Done!

Parenting:

• Teach the boys at least one song from the liturgy. We learned the first verses of "God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It" and "Silent Night" instead.
• Continue my homeschool research and finalize letter of the week plans.  Hopefully I can get this started this month too! I have continued to read more about this, but I've put off letter of the week stuff for now. I am interested in this, but apparently not motivated or passionate enough about it to actually do it.
• Throw a Lego party! Done! The party was awesome, and you can read more about it here.

October Goals

So...it's obvious (at least, to me) that just making a list on the blog is not enough for me to remember or achieve my goals each month, unless they are going to automatically happen (like the birthday party/cake).  I think this month I will try printing my list and posting it on my closet door so I constantly see it. We'll see if that helps me get more done...

Basically, a lot of my goals this month are to get things back on track in areas that I've been successful in before, but have gotten lazy about lately. It's time to fix my bad habits...

Household:

• Post pictures of items on Facebook garage sale site. I've had things sitting in a bin for a few months and just haven't photographed them yet.
• Reorganize the Legos in bins. I'm cheating a bit because we just finished this this morning. But it was definitely an October goal, and I'll post about what we did later this week!
• Figure out laundry and budget accordingly. We have been going back and forth between using Jesse's aunt's machines (a hassle and it takes all day, but free), the coin laundry at our apartment (the dryers are terrible), and the laundromat (more expensive, but they work and everything gets done in under 2 hours).

Food:

• Do a no-restaurant challenge for a week. We've fallen back into old habits lately, especially going out for lunch a lot (says the girl who had Chinese for lunch).
• Be more intentional about snacks. The kids have eaten crackers/cookies a lot lately, and I usually resort to some kind of sugar. Bad habits...

Parenting:

• Create a spot for Hannah at the table for meals. Basically, this means shifting chairs and pulling the extra booster seat out, something I've been meaning to do for awhile.
• Go through clothes, shoes, and winter gear and make sure everyone has everything needed.
• Teach the kids two more songs/verses.
• Get back to using cloth diapers more frequently. I've been slacking lately and using disposables a lot even when we're home, so I'd like to get back to cloth at home, disposables when we're out and at night only.
• Make a toothbrush sticker chart for the boys.

What I'm Reading...

Let's Play A Minimalism Game Together. If you can keep this up the entire month, you'll have gotten rid of 496 things. Wow! (The Minimalists)

13 Banned And Challenged Books For Kids. (No Time For Flash Cards)

Adolescence: A Modern Plague, But There Is A Cure. (The Matt Walsh Blog)

Concepts For Kids: Controlling Clutter. (I'm An Organizing Junkie)

In Front Of You, Behind, And On Either Side. (Simple Mom)

Getting Rid Of Unwanted Items: When Perfect Can Be The Enemy Of The Good. (Unclutterer)

8 Ways To Boost Your Immunity For Cold And Flu Season. (Green Your Way)

Weekly Coupon Shopping

Target (last week)

• Huggies Jumbo Pack: $8.99. Used 5% Cartwheel (took off $0.45), $2.50/1 printable, and $2/1 Target mailer = paid $4.04!
• 2 Lindt Bars: $2.49 each. Used two $2/1 printables = paid $0.49 each! (these are my favorite!)
• 2 Up&Up Kleenex: $1.39 each. Used $0.50/1 printable (I had two, but 1 didn't scan and I didn't notice until later) = paid $0.89 and $1.39.
• 5 Lego Minifigures (not pictured): $2.99 each. All 3 of my boys are obsessed with these.
• Total spent: $21.54. Most of that was on Lego guys...

Walmart

 2 Schick Silk Effects Plus Razors: $3.98 each. Used two $4/1 printables (no longer available) = 2 free!

Menu Plan October 1-15

I feel like it was just the beginning of September and here we are at the start of another month already!

Dinners:
(1) Tuesday: Stuffed Peppers
(2) Wednesday: Butternut Squash & Apple Soup, Cinnamon Toast Sticks
(3) Thursday: English Muffin Bread Pizzas
(4) Friday: Crockpot Beef & Broccoli/Leftover Pizzas
(5) Saturday: Spinach & Bean Burritoes
(6) Sunday: Omelets or Family Dinner (everyone's schedules have been crazy lately, so I'm not sure if we're having dinner together or not)

(7/8) Monday/Tuesday: Slow Cooker Taco Soup (doubled)
(9/10) Wednesday/Thursday: Cheesy Chicken Rice Casserole
(11) Friday: Pizza (olive, mushroom, spinach, peppers)
(12) Saturday: Black Bean Burgers
(13) Sunday: Chicken Quesadillas/Family Dinner
(14) Monday: Chicken Stir Fry
(15) Tuesday: Mini Turkey Loaves, Green Beans

I'll also be making some tomato soup with extras from Jesse's aunt's garden, and some Italian pasta salad for lunches.  I made a batch of granola last night, and I'm thinking we need a new muffin around, but I haven't decided which one yet.  What's on your menu this week?

I'm linking up to I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.