Week 3 was a good week. I made a double batch of chocolate chip, coconut, banana bread, a pumpkin pie, and an apple pie for us. Spaghetti leftovers on Monday, I made the French onion soup recipe from the cookbook my cousin sent me. One night we had pepper steak in the crockpot and one night I ate rice and frozen peas because the boys were both gone. We only ordered out once, pizza on Friday, and ate it two nights.
I went to the grocery store just once mid week to get cheese and onions and bread (kind of hard to make onion soup without those three things). I’ll add that to this week’s total.
Groceries yesterday cost us $71.38 which includes the mid week run.
I meal prepped a ton of stuff today for lunches for the week.
Used up bowtie pastaMade a mac salad with it!Used up the long grain and wild riceCooked riceBlanched broccoli Added chickpeas, bell pepper, s&p, little sugar, oil and balsamic. Will eat as a cold saladMade breakfast bites to freezeCranberries, natural peanut butter, honey, oats, granola, ripe banana, chocolate chips, pb chipsPress into baking cups and freeze for 2 hoursStore in an airtight container in the freezer and grab one on your way out the door in the morning!
I also made chili today so we can have lots of leftovers with that, too.
On the docket this week, besides the chili, is cauliflower sausage soup, hotdogs (had a hankering) those pork chops I have talked about for two weeks (maybe lol), goulash, and whatever else I can do with what I have in the pantry.
Item I want to use in my pantry this week: these gnocchi I got in a gift basket for Christmas. Let’s see what I do with them.
Total spent on groceries so far in 2024 – $282.17
I have gotten a few comments from readers asking how I spend so little on groceries. Many say they are spending $250+ a week! That’s a lot of food in my world. I feed two guys and me with my grocery budget. Honestly, I would love to see another person’s grocery receipt just to see what they are buying. Anyone willing to send me a snapshot of their receipt? Just for informational purposes, only of course! 😉
In my December update a full year had gone by since I last checked in and after a lot of thinking, researching and delving into our credit card statements (and a few tears I might say), I have a much better understanding of how and why our debt soared again this year. The ironic thing? We didn’t struggle to pay our bills monthly for the first time in probably a decade! One reason is that we didn’t have gigantic medical bills because I have a better, almost fully funded insurance package now at my job as opposed to my husband’s high deductible plan and weekly amount taken out of his paycheck. AND the fact the deductible I do have ($3,000 as opposed to $6,000), is fully funded by my employer in the form of an HSA account. What an amazing benefit to us. I also paid off a home equity in 2022 so we had a full year without that payment.
I wanted to get down on myself, however, looking back we truly did some amazing things and accomplished ALOT! So, no more looking back only looking forward in 2024. Alrighty?
Ok let’s see how we did on the one credit card debt in January.
Last update the ending balance for December was $9,971.14. After the period ended, the interest added on for the month was $136.01. So I started January at $10,107.15. I made two payments to this credit card totally $890.68 this month. Right now the balance is $9,216.47. I could pay more but we have property taxes to pay at the end of the month so I am going to give this card a rest. We will see what the interest is after the billing period ends the 29th.
I think we did good! In the $9,000s again and that makes me feel a bit better.
Goal for February: Definitely getting the balance into the $8,000s.
Question for you now, do you have more than one credit card?
This week was not a fun week. Emotionally it was a roller coaster and stress has been through the roof. I did get some things accomplished though to take my mind off the bad and relieve some stress. Below is what I managed to accomplish with my goals.
Home repairs professionally done – New kitchen countertops, rip out over-the-oven microwave and replace with new exhaust hood, trim all fruit trees and cut down all sumac in the hedgerow. Nothing yet on this goal but I have an estimate coming for the new counters. Yay! Below is a pic of just one of my stresses. This is the old counter we desperately need replaced and the reason we need the microwave ripped out and a new exhaust fan installed. This leaked from the improperly installed exhaust fan. Yuck huh?
This is the old counter we desperately need replaced and the reason we need the microwave ripped out and a new exhaust fan installed. This leaked from the improperly installed exhaust fan. Yuck huh?
Home projects done by us – Paint all trim in kitchen, re-paint upper kitchen cabinets, paint ceiling and walls in hallway, finish painting and put up picket pallet fencing, finish painting master bedroom and hang mantle over bed, front porch stained or painted, new brick patio in the backyard. I finished painting the base trim in the hallway and also finished painting the mantle. I hope to get it hung over our bed this afternoon!
We had this new flooring installed this fall. Still needed to paint the trimThe trim looks so nice!
Sewing projects – Finish Joyce’s Rose, New curtains for kitchen window, new seat cover for kitchen chair, new curtain over cat’s window seat, Christmas tree skirt, finish winter and summer season x-stitch projects. Igot my behind moving on this goal on Friday and have gotten quite a bit more stitched on Joyce’s Rose. Full update here: https://marymargaretripley.com/2024/01/14/sal-project-joyces-rose-22/
Read 30 books (It’s my goal every year) I finished “Searching for Sandra” by Jane Harvey. (Third book in this series) and “Christmas at Hummingbird House” book 4, which was a novella. Three books read out of my 30 goal.
Take at least 2 mini vacations and see my step-daughter’s new house in NC. This is a goal for warmer months.
Garden goals – raise 500 lbs of produce, new kitchen garden in front and new fruit garden in back, compost all dug and reset, raised bed garden re-imagined. I need to start planning.
Exercise somehow every single day concentrating most on core and pelvic floor and mobility. I exercised once, ugh…
Get all of my Etsy listings listed by March 31st so I can enjoy my garden in the Spring and summer months. I didn’t get a thing listed. Too much drama this week.
Explore the Western NY Antique Trail (Yes, there is such a thing). Hopefully in the next few weeks we can explore this trail.
Explore at least 3 local walking/biking trails. Warm weather for this goal.
Sell 300 listings on Etsy this year. I only sold 1 listing last week, only 294 more to go!
Church goals – Six thrift sales this year, Work on baptism records and historical info, work on getting our church info out there for weddings, one historical themed event/fundraiser this year. Our next thrift sale is Feb 10th!
Pay off one of the two credit cards. I’ll update after this week.
That’s it this time! How are you doing with your goals? – MM
Week 2 was a pretty emotionally exhausting week and it showed in the meal dept.
When I get overwhelmed or stressed I just don’t want to cook. Are you like that too? I made dinner four out of the seven nights.
We had Italian wedding soup on Sunday night, Monday we ate out but had a gift card for it, fried chicken cutlets on Tuesday, Wednesday night we went to trivia and we split a meal, Thursday we had a fabulous dinner out (photo below) because we had to shop for some items that needed to go with my hubby on Friday, and Friday the kid and I made breakfast for dinner. Yesterday, I made beef stew. Yum! Aaaand I didn’t eat out once for lunch because that Italian wedding soup and potato salad lasted me all week. Yippee!
Because of not making all the meals I planned, we had lots of food leftover from my last shipping trip
I grocery shopped yesterday and only spent $40.31. Coffee being the most expensive thing purchased, and I added in the creamer I bought mid-week for $7.49.
Just needed a few things. I also added in the creamer I bought mid week.
In the mail this past week, I received two sweet gifts I wasn’t expecting. One was a cookbook from a cousin in California of family recipes from my grandmother’s sister. My great aunt. After only a few pages, I knew I needed to try some of them. Brandy in chocolate chip cookies?? Um, yes, please!
So, on the docket this week is French onion soup (from this book), spaghetti and meatballs (cooking on the stove now), extra thick pork chops, tacos, and something with the 3 sweet peppers I have that I need to use. (I might have to refer to that recipe app I like for ideas) Lunches will again be leftovers, and breakfast is always a crap shoot in our house but apple pie will probably be a couple days of breakfasts. That’s ok, right?
Last night’s stew
Souvlaki salad at Sport-O-Kings
Total spent on groceries so far in 2024 – $210.79
What are you all cooking up lately? Until next week! – MM
It’s been six weeks since our last update and I should have completed Joyce’s Rose but I didn’t even pick it up until two days ago. I just didn’t feel like stitching. We have had a rough few weeks with Bob and Joyce and sickness for my hubby. But we carry on, right? How was everyone’s holidays?
Here is where I left off last update:
And here is where I am now.
This bud is now done.
This is the last photo of when I worked on the buds on the left. And below is where I am now on them.
Here is a photo of the whole project now.
We are in the middle of a snowstorm right now, so I will keep working on this throughout the rest of the day today.
Thank you, Avis for all you do for our group! Please visit the other stitchers in our group by clicking the links below. They are working on some lovely projects!
Week 1 we did pretty good in the meal dept. We only went out once and that was on Friday night because I am not cooking on a Fridays after a long work week. Period.
Finger food plate for lunches
Salmon this past Saturday night
For week 2 our groceries cost us $83.37 and I did my entire shop at Caledonia Marketplace.
On the menu this week is homemade Italian wedding soup, spaghetti and meatballs, fried chicken cutlets, grilled thick porkchops, and beef stew. I am going to wing it otherwise.
Out of everything I bought this week, (other than the meats) the apples and milk were the most expensive items.
I need to share the recipe I found for Italian wedding soup. It is amazing!
It’s from Cooking Classy and although a bit labor intensive because of the tiny meatball making and the finely chopped carrots, celery, onions and garlic, it’s totally worth it. One change I made was instead of using chicken broth, I used 5 chicken bouillon and 64 ounces of water. I can see making big batches of this soup and freezing it. Hope you give it a try!
Total spent on groceries so far in 2024 – $170.48
What are you all cooking up lately? Until next week! – MM
Home repairs professionally done – New kitchen countertops, rip out over-the-oven microwave and replace with new exhaust hood, trim all fruit trees and cut down all sumac in the hedgerow. Nothing yet on this goal but I have an estimate coming for the new counters. Yay!
Home projects done by us – Paint all trim in kitchen, re-paint upper kitchen cabinets, paint ceiling and walls in hallway, finish painting and put up picket pallet fencing, finish painting master bedroom and hang mantle over bed, front porch stained or painted, new brick patio in the backyard. Nothing yet!
Sewing projects – Finish Joyce’s Rose, New curtains for kitchen window, new seat cover for kitchen chair, new curtain over cat’s window seat, Christmas tree skirt, finish winter and summer season x-stitch projects. I am so bad, I haven’t felt like doing anything with my stitching lately
Read 30 books(It’s my goal every year) I finished “Buttercups in the Basement” by Jane Harvey. I have really enjoyed this series and Ms. Harvey’s writing style.
Take at least 2 mini vacations and see my step-daughter’s new house in NC. This is a goal for warmer months.
Garden goals – raise 500 lbs of produce, new kitchen garden in front and new fruit garden in back, compost all dug and reset, raised bed garden re-imagined. I need to start planning.
Exercise somehow every single day concentrating most on core and pelvic floor and mobility. I exercised 3 days this week and boy did I forget how winded I get with cardio!
Get all of my Etsy listings listed by March 31st so I can enjoy my garden in the Spring and summer months. This is what I worked on the most this week. I got 7 listings up. That may not sound like a lot but they were massive listings. Five large sets of dishes and 2 small listings. The sets take me a long time because I have to inventory and inspect all of the pieces, wash and photograph them, and then measure them and list them. The listings take a while to write because with these big sets, each variation within the listing has a different size, price and quantity. Pretty mind exhausting if I am being honest.
Explore the Western NY Antique Trail (Yes, there is such a thing). Hopefully in the next few weeks we can explore this trail.
Explore at least 3 local walking/biking trails. Warm weather for this goal.
Sell 300 listings on Etsy this year. Sold 5 last week, only 295 more to go!
Church goals – Six thrift sales this year, Work on baptism records and historical info, work on getting our church info out there for weddings, one historical themed event/fundraiser this year. Our next thrift sale is Feb 10th!
Pay off one of the two credit cards. Check out my Not Impressed with our Debt post later this week.
That’s it this time! How are you doing with your goals? – MM
Here we are again ushering in another New Year! I didn’t do much with my goals last year. I had a feeling it would be a tough year and it was. I am hopeful for a better year this year but I already said to my husband he better buckle up because 2024 is going to be a roller coaster with his parents. Both of my in-laws have dementia and have had it for about five years.
I do have quite a few goals I want to get accomplished this year, God willing. Below is the list.
Home repairs professionally done – New kitchen countertops, rip out over-the-oven microwave and replace with new exhaust hood, trim all fruit trees and cut down all sumac in the hedgerow.
Home projects done by us – Paint all trim in kitchen, re-paint upper kitchen cabinets, paint ceiling and walls in hallway, finish painting and put up picket pallet fencing, finish painting master bedroom and hang mantle over bed, front porch stained or painted, new brick patio in the backyard.
Sewing projects – Finish Joyce’s Rose, New curtains for kitchen window, new seat cover for kitchen chair, new curtain over cat’s window seat, Christmas tree skirt, finish winter and summer season x-stitch projects.
Read 30 books(It’s my goal every year)
Take at least 2 mini vacations and see my step-daughter’s new house in NC
Garden goals – raise 500 lbs of produce, new kitchen garden in front and new fruit garden in back, compost all dug and reset, raised bed garden re-imagined.
Exercise somehow every single day concentrating most on core and pelvic floor and mobility.
Get all of my Etsy listings listed by March 31st so I can enjoy my garden in the Spring and summer months.
Explore the Western NY Antique Trail (Yes, there is such a thing).
Explore at least 3 local walking/biking trails
Sell 300 listings on Etsy this year
Church goals – Six thrift sales this year, Work on baptism records and historical info, work on getting our church info out there for weddings, one historical themed event/fundraiser this year.
Pay off one of the two credit cards.
I know it’s a lot and yes it may not all get done but we all have to set goals right? I’ll update on Sundays what I have accomplished each week.
New Kitchen garden getting prepared for spring
Have you set any goals for the new year? I have read a few other bloggers’ goals and I even stole one of them! Stay tuned – MM
Happy New Year! I am committed to shopping and planning mindfully again in 2024. I kind of lost steam about halfway through 2023 when I thought I was missing out on buying more fun things to cook with. Turns out I can still get those fun things, I just need to plan better for them.
This year long grocery shopping and meal planning blog series will focus on three themes. One is how much is spent on groceries, the goal being $75 a week, give or take. Food waste is an issue in every home so that is a second theme I will keep working on this year and third will be meal planning and prep. I constantly stress myself out and succumb to eating out because I am not planning and prepping well enough.
This week I spent $87.11 on groceries and I went to Wegmans for all of it. This is a huge splurge for us but since I already have plenty of meats in the freezer, I shopped for fun ingredients to stock up my pantry.
Oh, and hey, just a side note a mini 4th area I want to explore this year is shopping at more ethnic mom and pop stores in the city. We are 30 minutes from downtown Rochester, NY and my Italian and Irish heritages can be better served at Rubino’s, and the like, which I haven’t been to in years.
Ok, back to my shopping today. Some of the fun ingredients I needed to stock up my pantry were balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I bought 2 boxes of Cracklin’ Oat Bran at $5.19 a box. I bought two because you can’t find it in any stores anymore and Doug will eat an entire box himself, so one for him and one for me. I also bought a 2lb bag of fresh green beans at $5.99, that’s a lot of beans! Blueberries and raspberries were a splurge at $4.99 and $4.49 respectively.
Meals planned this week are pan fried pork chops with fresh mushroom gravy, green beans and mashed potatoes, salmon with sweet potatoes, rice and broccoli, Baked stuffed chicken with brussels, tacos, and soup and salad one night and the rest will be leftovers.
So here we go into 2024 with all the hopes of a grateful and humble year.
Join Mavis Butterfield for vegetable gardening and canning tips, easy recipes, and saving money strategies (Rug hooking, too!). Simple living at its best!
The Professional Domestic 