MONTHLY MENUS

THE DILEMMA

How many times a month do you eat out??? What are your reasons for eating out?? Convenience.....too many evening activities....forgot to thaw something out for dinner.....tired of the same ole recipes??? Is your grocery bill too high?? Are you wasting money on fruits and veggies that you are throwing away? Have you ran out of dinner ideas?? Are you working on trying to organize your life with simple ideas??

WELL......a monthly menu can solve ALL of the ABOVE!!

THE SOLUTION

I listened to several of my friends talk about their monthly menus. I thought they were all full of shit. LOL....there was no way that anyone could plan a whole month of dinners and actually follow it. BOY...OH BOY, was I wrong. Honestly, it is a lot easier than I thought.

First of all, I LOVE to eat! I love to cook! I love to save money (really, I do!) I hate spending tons of money on fruits and veggies just to throw them out because they are not being used. My life is totally overscheduled. Thus....the importance of a monthly menu.

THE BENEFITS

There really are so many benefits to a monthly menu. First and foremost...you can save a TON of money. If you are following a menu...you are eating out a lot less. You save money, because there is less waste. You buy what you plan on cooking...NO EXTRAS!! You also can cook around your coupons and grocery ads. Another great benefit is that you will eat healthier. You are no longer making those drive-thru runs or pizza stops. When you plan ahead, you are more prepared. More prepared by having a variety of different meals, no more forgetting to thaw food out, no more looking at the clock at 6pm and wondering..."hmmmm...what's for dinner?" (not only prepared, but saving money because in the past it was so much easier to just pick up some take-out at 6pm). And FINALLY...you are on your way to a more scheduled and organized life. Yes, even a little tiny menu, can make a world of difference.

HOW TO MAKE A MONTHLY MENU

I have been making a monthly menu for almost a year. It really has made my life so much easier.

To start off, you need a calendar. You can print up calendars off the internet to make things easier. You can use your pretty frou frou calendar that you MIL bought you for Christmas, your weekly planner (aka my mommy bible), a spreadsheet (I am not smart enough for one of those)...whatever you want. What I did was buy a large tear-off desk calendar from the dollar spot at Target. It is large enough to add your activities as well as the menu and ingredients. There is also a large section for notes...perfect for your grocery list or the "extra meals" section. I keep my menu in the laundry room on our activities bulletin board (this will be in another blog when I am finished redecorating the laundry room) Use a pencil! The first few times you make your menu,you will be making a lot of changes.

If you think a monthly menu is too much.....I KNOW....I KNOW....you are thinking "umm freak....I do not know what is happening tomorrow, let alone the rest of the month!" Yep, I said the same thing. SO try a weekly menu to start. Then slowly move up to 2 weeks...then 3 weeks...then finally a whole month. Really, you will be amazed at how this can work out.

Usually a few days before the beginning of the month, take a couple of hours to go over your cookbooks, recipes, magazines, the internet, the grocery ads (present and upcoming) and in my case, my last months menu. Last months menu is very important (actually, I save all menus) because you can look and see what meals worked for your schedule, what are your monthly staples (the meals that are MUSTS in your house), what new recipes sucked or were total hits, etc. Then look at your work, school and family calendars and work around those. For instance, thursday nights are dance nights, therefore I make a crock pot meal. If I know that Jason and I are having a date night, I plan on frozen food for the kids and add our "dinner out" to the menu. I try to add meals that will correlate with our activities. I am not going to make a huge turkey dinner with all the fixings when I know we have a boy scout meeting. Instead, I either make sure the night before was a large meal where we can have leftovers the next day(yes, I add leftovers to my menu, with time you will know what meals are large enough for leftovers or what meals your kids will scarf down in minutes), make a crock pot meal, something quick and easy like frozen kids food (popcorn chicken/fries) or pasta or make that our take out night. Usually I save more extensive menus for the weekend when we are home or planning on having guests.

Once your menu is made and your week or month is about to start, look at the menu, see what fresh fruits/veggies that you need and what other ingredients that you might be out of and write out your list for the grocery store. Make sure to take out what ever meats need to be thawed 2-3 days before your meal and put them in the refrigerator to thaw. When you are at the grocery store...STICK to your list. If possible, make a couple of trips to the grocery store a week. If a meat that is NOT on your menu is on sale at a super duper price...go for it...freeze it...you just started your next months menu.

You are probably thinking...."ummm...my life is not as perfect as yours (totally LMBO), and things change. Don't worry...at the bottom of your menu put a couple of easy meals. Meals that take little to no thawing, with ingredients that are staples in your home. For an example check out the bottom of my menu. Some of my extra/easy meals are pasta/meat sauce, chicken/peppers/rice......quick 15 minute meals. Also, if things get really hectic, you can always switch things around during the month. If your den/troop leader decides on tuesday to have an unplanned meeting on thursday....the day that you planned a large steak dinner, switch it around. Trade a difficult meal for an easy one, switch nexts week take out, whatever will work for you. This menu is NOT written in stone....hence the PENCIL above. Seriously, I am a mom 3 VERY busy kids and a wife to a work-a-holic.......nothing ever goes as planned........

My life is completely over-scheduled. My monthly menus have been a life-saver, one less thing that I have to worry about each day.

Trust me....this can be life changing!



Stay tuned....January and February menus coming VERY SOON!

WHY....OH.....WHYYYYY????

WHY OH WHY is it SOOOO hard for me to keep up with this freakin blog???

Seriously?? I mean, I spend most of my waking day on the internet, updating my facebook status....... talking to 264 people...some that I know very well, some that I do not know very well, play typing mania, commenting on other peoples status updates....... keeping up on my forums, doing a little internet shopping, reading and WRITING emails.......AND reading OTHER people's blog. WTH????

SO why can't I keep up with darn blog?

I have 6.5 hours a day, 5 days a week to myself. YES, you heard that correctly...6.5 hours a day....5 days a week. That is a total of 32.5 hours a week. During that 32.5 hours a week, I can do ANYTHING that I want. YES...again, you heard that correctly, I have 32.5 hours ALONE during the week. I have NOT had 32.5 hours a year alone, let alone a week for umm....15 years. I know that I keep saying 32.5 hours a week, but it is quite exciting and a little frightening. Don't worry, I will explain why I have 32.5 hours of free time a week at another time. You know in about 2 or 3 months when I decide to update this blog again (yes, roll your eyes, I can take it). OR, you might already know this, considering I share everything on facebook and my forums.

SO....again...same question...why the heck can I not keep up with this little blog?

I have NO ONE to talk to during my 32.5 hours a week(yep...did it again). Well, I talk to myself. There...right there....THAT should be a reason for me to keep up with this blog.....MY SANITY. Maybe if I stopped talking to myself and started writing down all of my crazy thoughts on THIS BLOG than the question would be solved. Oh, but wait one more minute....I do write down my thoughts...on facebook and my forums. Major eye-rolling going on right now.

Seriously, this is bothering. Especially, because of that darn 65 in 365. I am actually getting quite a few things accomplished from my 65 in 365. BUT, how would YOU know, considering I can't keep up with this stinkin blog. All I had to do was ONE stinking blog a week. Easy...right?? Should be, considering the FIRST week, I did...GET THIS....THREE!!!!!!

What is up??? I know how to type. I have all kinds of stuff that I want to share. I mean, I even write down what I am going to blog about almost every day. Yep...I have about 30 different things that I was going to blog about this past month. Yeah, you are wondering....where all those blogs are...right??? Don't worry, they are on the internet....just not here. So, I can waste paper, ink and make my arm hurt, waste countless minutes of time, yet, I can't take 5 minutes to TYPE it out. OH wait...I do....just not here.....just on facebook and SHFB.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR................getting REALLY annoyed at MYSELF. Okay...breathe.....let it all out...................................


hmmmm....notice anything.....

yep, I just blogged. lmbo

I am back...again....FOR REAL.......?????.......

maybe...


to be continued.......

UPDATE ON 65 IN 365!

SO......day #6 of 365! ummm.....yeah...soo....how are things going for YOU??? Yeah, I know the point of YOU visiting MY blog is to see how I am doing. right???? Well, I am doing okay. Literally...OKAY. Luckily it is ONLY day 6 of 365. lol

The good news is that I completed 1/12 of a task. lol I have my January menu all set up. AND it is going quite well. I am staying on track. I went grocery shopping and only bought for this weeks meals. We have NOT eaten out.....AT ALL! Not even a starbucks trip. YAY!!

NOW for my first failure. lol Well, not really a failure because luckily I still have 11 more months to redeem myself. My little uh-oh was for the NO-SPENDING January. NOPE...didn't happen. BUT, that's okay, because I still have 11 more months to complete this horrific task.

The GOOD news to the NO....NO-SPENDING January is that I actually placed a couple of orders. BUT, in my defense the orders were "good" orders. SO good, that I feel the need to share. As many of you know, I am a shopaholic. BUT, I am a deal-finding, bargain-hunting, name brand buying at deep discounts shopaholic. SO, kind of a good thing. Right??? humor me....PLEASE. IF....I still lived in the shopping capital of the USA....california, then I would be able to share all of the awesome deals that I used to find on a daily basis. BUT, I live in a small-hick town with literally NO SHOPPING. SO SAD....I know.....cry with me. You have to drive 2 hours to STL for "real" shopping. WHICH, makes it almost impossible to bargain shop on a daily basis like I once did. SO, for now, I must shop online and can only share a couple deals every now and then, instead of a gazillion a day, like I used to and like so many of my blog friends are able to do. :( Okay, done with my sob story....back to my deals.

First off, I placed a gymboree order. I am actually quite happy with my order. It is very similar to one that I placed last year. Right after Christmas during gymbucks earnings, Gymboree has their Big Red Balloon sale. This is when stuff goes cheap....dirt cheap. THEN on top of the dirt cheap items, you can use a 20% off coupon. AND still earn gymbucks. SO...it is a win-win time to order. At this time a lot of the uniform items go on sale. YAY for all of us private school peeps!!!!! Last year I ordered Kayla about a dozen white & navy blue sweaters and sweatshirts for about $3 a piece. Pretty awesome when they retail for $30ish. SO....now you are wondering what I ordered. I ordered 4 pair of navy blue leggings (two different sizes which are perfect for wearing under jumpers and skirts!), 2 red cardigan sweaters (almost $30 each), 4 pair of white biker shorts (again, 2 different sizes, perfect for under skirts/jumpers or for summertime), 4 navy blue uniform skorts, 5 pair of socks, 3 pair of underwear for Jayden and a couple of christmas leggings. WITH my coupon, I paid .80....YES....80 CENTS a piece for the socks & underwear (boxer briefs), $6ish for each sweater and $4 a piece on everything else. I saved almost 80%!!!!! AND I earned gymbucks, which I will sell for between $7-$10. NOT TOO SHABBY!!!

NOW for my second order..... this is cool because I will using my purchase towards my 65 in 365. I just placed an amazon order. Basically my Christmas gifts to myself.....3 items that I wanted for Christmas but was waiting for them to go on sale. AND guess what??? yep, they went on sale. YAY for ME!!!

Here is what I bought....


paid $20.99



paid $8.99


paid $7.49

AND you are wondering...how does this relate to the 65 in 365...well, naturally, I will tell you. I LOVE my wii. I need to work out. I hate the gym...more like I have social issues that cause me to be scared to death of the gym. BUT, I need to lose weight...soooooo THE BIGGEST LOSER for wii takes care of ALL of that, as does the 30 day shred. THEN, we have my mommy planner...schedules, appts, calendar, etc, etc! BAM.....that helps out with a TON of my 65 in 365. I get one of these EVERY year, I call it my Mommy Bible....it is my life saver. It literally saves my sanity from all of my over scheduling.

NOW, for why these were such awesome deals. First off, if you know amazon, you know....NO TAX! YAY for no tax. Secondly, all the items were ON SALE....the wii game is regularly $40...almost half price. The dvd is regularly $15....again almost half price. AND finally the calendar is regularly $15...so AGAIN half price. AND on top of that.....NO SHIPPING!!!! WOOOOHOOOO!. BUT, I am NOT done! I also had $15 in amazon gift cards that I earned through swagbucks. WHAT??? taking my total to $22.47!!!!! WOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!! SCORE!

And if you are interested in swagbucks. Head over to the right and click on my link for more info on earning gift cards from your everyday internet searches. Make sure you sign up under me. Thanks!

SO....sometimes a NO....NO-SPENDING month is okay! Right?? Maybe????

check me out in a few to see where else this 65 in 365 takes me.

65 in 365!!!

Thanks to some of my favorite people (tara, stephanie, bridget, etc, etc), I am saying SCREW "new year's resolutions". Instead, I am going for 65 and 365!!! You are probably thinking....."um, Alison....wake-up..... one or two new years resolutions might be a little easier than 65!" OR....."um...if you can't stick with ONE....why try 65???" But wait just a minute... I can do this...really I can.

First off, my 65 are NOT resolutions. Instead it is a SIMPLE LITTLE list of things that I want accomplish in 2010. Okay, so 65 things may not be a little list, but in all honesty, it is quite simple. It is simple because these are things that I actually WANT to do. Yeah...a few are things that I NEED to do. BUT, those needs are things that I kinda want to do deep down inside or am hoping that I will want to do them by the time they come along. Humor me...kay?? The other thing, is this list is actually quite attainable. Unlike most resolutions that are just not reasonable or feasible....lose 50 lbs....put $10,000 into savings, stop shopping (yeah...sure...eyes rolling)....stop drinking soda....you get the drift. This list is a compilation of things that can be done or should be done on a daily basis. NOW, you are thinking...okay so why are you posting this on your blog. If these are everyday things, just do them. Well, if you know me at all, you know that I am a lazy bum. lol Okay, not a lazy bum just a MASSIVE procrastinator. I am actually quite creative and full of all kinds of ideas. I just sometimes (well, alot of times) lack motivation or self confidence. SO...by me adding this 65 in 365....I am looking for ACCOUNTABILITY!!! Yep...from the 2 people that actually read my blog.

This should be fun. Make sure you come back and see what I have accomplished throughout the next 365 days. Everytime I accomplish something, I will highlight it in red. AND if it is something really exciting, I might even take pictures and blog about it (aren't you lucky).

SO HERE you go....my 65 in 365. (and thank you tara, as always, I am a copy cat, I am categorizing mine.




THE FREAKS (the kids)

1. family night at least 2x month (1/24)
2. craft time at least 1x month (0/12)
3. go to STL zoo
4. do a 3 BIG jigsaw puzzle (0/3)
5. go to the drive-in movies
6. take Kayla for a mani or pedi or both
7. go on picnic
8. have a dom day w/just me or jason & me
9. have a jayden day w/just me or jason & me
10. have a kayla day w/just me or jason & me
11. make new rules....chores...charts
12. make a family handbook
13. camp out with the kids after a movie night (living room or family room)
14. redecorate Kaylas room with Kaylas help
15. buy new bedding for Doms room
16.make 12 shoeboxes w/help of the kids w/goal to make 36 next year (0/12)

MOI (me...duh)

17. get medicated ( you may be laughing now....but just wait)
18. lose 20 lbs
19. make dentist appt and actually GO to it
20. take my vitamins/iron EVERY.SINGLE.DAY
21. make a pap appt (yeah, yeah TMI, but remember...ACCOUNTABILITY)
22. figure out what I want to do when I grow up
23. work out at least 3x a week (wii fit/active, gym, walk, etc)
24. blog regularly (at least once a week 0/52) & reorganize it
25. find a new activity or hobby just for ME
26. shower daily....yeah laugh all you want, but some days, I run out of time
27. make a daily schedule and actually stick to it
28. read at least 5 books...not including kids (may be hard since I have not read 5 adult books in the last 5 yrs) 0/5

STUD MUFFIN (aka Jason....this is how HE wanted to be referred too)

29. date night at least 1x month (2/12)
30. lunch at least 1x month (1/12)
31. playboard games.....at least 1x month (0/12)
32. spend more quality time with Jason....minimum 1x week.....ACCOUNTABILITY....SO SHUT IT



THE LOONEY BIN (projects for the house)

33. redecorate the laundry room (including painting the cabinets)
34. paint kitchen cabinets
35. regrout kitchen floor
36. buy new towels & washcloths for the whole house
37. landscape backyard
38. curtains/window coverings for dining room & living room
39. redecorate kids bathroom

ORGANIZATION OF THE LOONEY BIN(cleaning/organizing/etc)

40. send out christmas cards (09 was our 1st year w/o them, NOT happening again)
41. make another 65 in 365
42. clean & organize my office ( I am so scared just thinking about it)
43. organize all closets (0/8)
44. iron all uniforms for m-f EVERY sunday night
45. organize storage room
46. update frames & pictures
47. organize family room
48. keep house clean enough to actually let someone in if they knock unexpectadly

BREAKING OUT OF MY TEENY-TINY LITTLE BOX(socializing/entertaining/etc)
49. have a game night/bbq/drink night at OUR house at least 6 times (0/6)
50. go out with friends as couple at least 6 times (2/6)
51. girls night in/out at least 3 times (0/3)
52. make a new friend (this will be the hardest out of everything)
53. have a mommy & me day with a friend and her kid



GRUB (food/kitchen/cooking)

54. make a monthly amenu (2/12)
55. go through cabinets/both frig/3 freezers and toss expired food 2x (0/2)
56. make at least one new recipe a month (3/12)
57. start cupcaking...or just baking in general at least once a month (1/12)


$$$$$$$ (there is no other way to put it)

58. sell consistently on ebay & amazon with minimum sales of $1000 a month
59. payoff ALL doctor bills....a zero balance by end of year
60. learn to coupon....& actually DO IT
61. have a garage sale ($500 goal...should be easy considering we have never made under $700)
62. sell stroller & china (weird...I know, but this means something like craigs list)
63. simplify.....realize that .97 suave works just as well as $20 brand names
64. start garage saling for resell....this should be interesting considering i have only been to 1-2 in my whole life (0/10)
65. have a NO spending month....and REALLY stick to it!

NEW YEAR.....NEW ME.....NEW BLOG!

how cliche is that.....New Year....New Me???? yeah, you can laugh, because I know I am busting up as I type it.

In all seriousness (is that a word??), I honestly, and truly want to make a new start. This is not only a new year but a new decade as well. This will be the 5th decade that I have been blessed to be a part of. Let's see....70's, 80's, 90's, 00's and NOW 2010's. WOW, that makes me sound a lot older than my acutal 35 years. I have had some major ups and downs during each of those decades. Actually, more downs than ups. Of course, a lot of those downs are a direct result of the choices that I make....but downs...non the less. Honestly, I am tired of the downs...I want the next 10 years to be my greatest ten years yet. I mean, I am not getting any younger. I know that the next 10 years won't be perfect, but why can't I at least strive towards that. I won't be disappointed if they aren't perfect because first of all....NOTHING and NO ONE is ever perfect. Also, as long as I know that I am truly trying to live my life better, than that is enough for me. . But it is not just for me, it is for my kids, my husband, my family....everything that is important to me.....everyone that relies on me.

There are so many changes that I want.....NEED to make. From my physical health to my mental health. From how I am as a mom to how I am as a wife. Spiritually....I need to make changes or maybe not necessarily make changes but find something that I may be missing. Organization......NUFF SAID. lol There are soooooo many more changes, adjustments, modifications....etc, etc that I need to make.....that I WANT to make.

SO....with this new me....comes my "new" blog. Well, not "new" just resurrected. hmm...kind of like me.

So, to start off, I am starting to blog again. YEAH, YEAH....how many times have I said that??? Well, today IS the day. yeah, facebook has taken over my life. BUT, it is still not "blogging". With blogging I was able to share what was going on with my family and friends that we moved away from. It was a way for me to talk to adults (yeah, even if it meant imaginary ones). It was my therapy.....a way to talk to MYSELF without Jason looking at me like I was crazy.

SO....why not let today......January 1st 2010....be the day....the decade for change. A NEW YEAR....A NEW ME.....


starting with my NEW BLOG!!