Planning a months worth of meals...

Planning meals is something I was not always passionate about. I thought it was pointless because "how do I know what I'll want to ea in 3 weeks?"

I am here to tell you that I have changed!

When I first got married I didn't decide what I would make for dinner until I was already hungry, which mean Josh has been hungry for the last hour. Then I would have to take time to make sure I had all of the ingredients. Then I had to start cooking. We ended up having a lot of our meals at 9:30-10 at night. Woah.

And luckily we lived across the street from a grocery store because I would literally have Josh run (much faster than driving) to the store to get an ingredient I didn't have.

I started to plan out a week of meals so I wouldn't have to go to the store so often because it was getting expensive! I also found that I was wasting a ton of food and it was not good!

When we moved to Utah I took it one step further and started planning out meals for a month! I was so nervous at first. But this is how I managed to do it:

1. I get my notebook and write down the days of the month. Every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month I get together with extended family for dinner so I write that on those days before I do anything else. Same with any holidays that include dinners ( Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July...)

2. I get every Wednesday off from work and I don't work Saturday or Sunday. I write this next to the dates so I can plan better. On these days I don't have to worry about what time I'll get home from work so I'm able to make my meals that will take a little more time or energy. I also try to put my easiest/quickest meals on Mondays because I know I wont want to spend too much time in the kitchen those days.

3. I get out all of my recipes and last months meal plan. Every time I try a new recipe or change something in an old recipe I have Josh rate it on a scale of 1-10. I write his rating on my recipe so I'm able to look back and see what his favorite meals were. I try not to put all of my "10's" in the same week just as I try to spread out the 6's and 7's. (I usually don't make it again if it's less than a 6 or 7...)

4. If I am trying any new recipes this month I try to highlight it or mark that it's a new recipe so I can make sure to not skip that one! At the start of our marriage I would make the same 10 meals over and over again. Josh finally spoke up and asked me to try something new. So I don't skip those! (Obviously I'm not trying anything new this month...)

Shopping
When I go grocery shopping I try to get all of my non perishable items at the beginning of the month. So that is when I buy my frozen chicken, ground beef, bread... all that jazz. Then each week or every other week (depending on what I'll need) I'll buy the more perishable things like milk, fruit, veggies, etc.
This is what has saved me the most money! I cram as much into my freezer as possible and use the rest up before it goes bad. It has been a great system for me so far! But now I just need to get a deep freezer so I can fit even more!!


I've realized that even though I have meal planned, doesn't mean I need to cook it that night. If I'm not in the mood for Teriyaki chicken, I can make mac n cheese and it's no big deal because I already bought all of the ingredients. I can swap things around and it wont matter! In fact I usually end up sticking to what I planned for the week but making them all in a completely different order. But that's okay! I'm not wasting any food by doing that. And that is pretty awesome!
I am able to make healthier meals for us because it is all getting planned out ahead of time.
And we are not wasting food! Josh and I are able to take leftovers as lunch the next day. This also saves tons of money because we aren't going out and buying lunch while at work or school.


What do you do to meal plan or meal prep?? Although I love the system that I have created, I would love your feedback and tips!

Audrey Jo

Halloween 2016

I love Halloween. I love dressing up and going out!

Luckily the office I work for gets super into Halloween. Remember last year?!

Last year we didn't win best office...unfortunately. So we were pretty determined to win this year!

This year the options for dressing up were: Star Wars, comic books, and Peter Pan.

Peter Pan tooootally won! (Yay!)

Here's a close(er) shot of my make up that my super talented friend did! (I could never do it that well on my own!)

"Team Take Down" The 3 of u work for Todd Seamons, the best PA I've ever known and one of the greatest people I've ever known! Seriously, you should meet this guy.

Now to start preparing for next Halloween! Any ideas??

Audrey Jo

How to save money (and make your money last!)

So when Josh and I got married we had no problems with money.
I was working part time as a hostess at a restaurant and Josh was working as a bellman/valet at a hotel

I wasn't making much but it was enough to pay for groceries and gas (which was a lot considering we were both driving 30 minutes to get to work).
Josh was making tons in tips at his job and that gave us more than enough for rent. We could go out to eat as much as we wanted to, we could go shopping, and not have to plan out our purchases!

When we moved up to Utah we knew that my income was going to be our sole income, for a while at least.
It was definitely a lot harder to make ends meet. Although it isn't fun having to watch what I spend, it is a skill I will always keep with me!

Here is what I do to save money and make it last:

Plan your meals for an entire month! I will be making a whole post devoted to this concept because I am that passionate about it! I use to think it was too hard to plan out a whole month worth of meals until I tried it. I save time and money by buying things in bulk at the beginning of each month and I am able to motivate myself to try new recipes by planning it into my month. (Josh loves when I try new recipes!)

Shop discount and thrift stores Josh has a thing for Nike. He refuses to wear any other kind of athletic apparel. Did you know that they sell Nike at Ross? The other day I got him some Nike leggings (are they still called that when they're in the guys section?) that were originally $90...for only $19! And a Nike shirt that was nearly $20 off! I've gotten a lot of our decor from Ross. I got one of my favorite coats from a thrift store. There's good stuff out there, you just need to spend some time to search for it!

Shop off season I try to buy all of my bathing suits in the fall and winter when they are on sale. Winter coats? Buy them in the spring when stores are trying to clear their racks to make room. I always go to Target to buy "Halloween" candy the day after Halloween-it's still fall, the colors are the same...why is it on sale? Who knows. But I totally take advantage of it!

Don't shop a sale just because it's a sale How many times do you go shopping just because there's a sale? I have and I sometimes do! But why go shopping when you don't need anything? Save that money for when you do need it! Of course there are exceptions to that rule: when I go grocery shopping and they are cereal on sale, I'll buy it because I know Josh will be needing cereal the next week. But I don't go shoe shopping just for the fun of it.

Don't use a gift card just because you have one Target gift cards are one of my favorite things ever. When we got married we got tons of gift cards to Target and Bed Bath and Beyond. I didn't go out shopping there just because we could. I waited until we needed something to use the gift card. This came in handy when we moved to Utah and needed to buy a lot more...like a microwave, things for our second bathroom, etc.

Find ways to make a little extra A popular way to make a little extra money here is to donate plasma! It takes about an hour to donate plasma and you're able to make $25-30 each donation-they pay you for your time (and you are helping people! They are able to make medicine with the plasma that is donated).

Sell your old things As long as you take good care of your stuff, why not try to sell it once you're done with it? We take our old clothes to Plato's Closet when we don't wear them often enough. There are tons of Facebook pages that you are able to sell things on. I'm part of 3 "indoor yard sales" and take full advantage of it with selling things AND with buying things.

Plan out your purchases This is a new thing for me. Josh and I both get paid every 2 weeks. I made a list of things that we "need" and things that we "want." I'm able to look at this list and decide when to buy things. For example, when I knew my car registration was coming up, I was able to plan when the best week would be to pay for that. If there isn't a "need" I am able to decide if it is a good week to get a "want."

What do you think? Pretty easy little changes, huh? It was definitely a transition to go from buying what I wanted to needing to plan out my purchases. But I am so glad I've been able to learn these things.

What ways do you save money? What have you learned over the years and how do you stick to your budget??