Wednesday July 15

Today started out as a usual Wednesday, but something feels like it's missing? OH, it's my daughters!! They are gone for the day. Early rising they left before breakfast. Today is a forecast of ugly with a chance of pretty later in the day. I got up to my coffee (of course), and decided today was a day for one of my FAVORITE breakfasts that are easier than easy. Waffles with sliced bananas, peanut butter and syrup. Need I say more? I am a peanut butter lover. I had all of the items in the freezer and pantry, so no cost there. I am, however, low on my favorite coffee creamer. I can't do without my coffee, so I will grudgingly have to go to the store later today. Here's my way to a satisfying waffle experience: toast a waffle, my favorite are eggo french vanilla waffles, when they pop out of the toaster nice and warm still, spread the peanut butter (my pick again is peanut butter with honey already mixed in, for some reason I like the Kroger brand better than any other national brand I've tried), slice your banana over top and drown in syrup. I am a pretty healthy eater, and like for my girls to be to, so I buy the no sugar added syrup. It has ALOT less sugar and calories compared to other syrups, so I don't feel guilty when I enjoy this little pleasure.
By the time I am done licking the latter part of the syrup from the plate, quite a scene if someone catches that in my private moments haha, my hubby is home due to the rainout at work. He comes in and we talk for a few before he goes to the basement to "work" on things, only to end up working on his "beauty sleep". He is their father, guess it just runs in the bloodline.. He does inform me that they ordered breakfast at work from white castle across the street, ugh, white castle in the a.m. reminds me of my partying days, not exactly what I want to smell at 8:30 in the morning, but whatever. He spent $4.28. I however, sit down with a mission on my spreadsheets and word documents to calculate the bills and other expenses it takes to run the household. Such a fun task I might add. After the hours of getting things in order, I start on my lists of what items I have in my pantry, fridge, freezer and baking cabinet. I am a huge baker, so I have a one whole double cabinet dedicated just to spices, baking items, etc.
I find that I have alot more than I thought I did, although I knew I had enough I just didn't realize it until I dug deep into the pantry to find things I had no clue when I bought. Luckily nothing was expired. I decided now to get down to receipts for the year. Yes, call me a nerd if you want to but I like to know my savings for the year. I take all of my receipts and separate them monthly into categories such as groceries/needs, wants, bills, etc. Then I add up the amounts I have spent monthly, coupon savings and non-coupon savings such as store promotions, sales or discount card savings. It is quite a nice thing to see. I then staple the receipts accordingly and put them into a file folder. To this date, I have spent from January to July 14th $1,066.42, saved $352.80 in discounts/promos and $407.75 in coupons. I know I have more receipts somewhere, but I cannot seem to find them at this moment. BUT, it does make me happy to see that I have saved quite a bit a little more than half of what I have spent so far. Like I said, I'm a nerd, guess I should get my pocket protector out. Haha.
While the girls are going to stay the night at their aunt's house, I decide on a lunch for myself, while sleeping beauty is downstairs I won't bother, he won't eat it anyway. I have a starkist tuna pouch, hickory flavor so I plan on making a quesadilla. I slice up an onion, mushrooms, diced green peppers and saute them with the tuna in a skillet. I use one flour tortilla and some monterey cheddar shredded cheese in my quesadilla. I whip up a dipping sauce by using fat free sour cream 1 tbsp. with 3 tbsp. chunky salsa. Add 1/2 cup of the leftover pasta salad and have a satisfying lunch while I switch out laundry.
OK, so it really is a lazy Wednesday. I didn't get into the shower until 5:00 after I put a meatloaf in the oven. I used the ground beef from meijer I got for .50, saltine crackers, onions and green bell peppers, can of tomato sauce, an egg and ketchup. All of which were items from my pantry/freezer/fridge. After getting out of the shower and waking the hubby to let him know I had to run to the store, I let the meatloaf go to work in the oven.
I go to Kroger and scour the aisles "just in case" there are a few things that might be on sale that I had a coupon for. I purchase orange juice $1.50 for 1/2 gallon, french vanilla coffee creamer $2.29, bananas $1.29 and a tomato $.64 for bacon and tomato sandwiches this week making my grand total $5.72. Not too shabby, yet I had no coupons but did have my kroger plus card so it worked out ok.
Arby's in on the way home from Kroger and I give it a thought and then turn it down, even though Wednesdays are free days at Arbys and I do have 2 coupons for a free beef and cheddar.. but I stay on track and come home to meatloaf. I know it's healthier the way I have made it than beef and cheddar and fries. Heck, the coupons I have don't expire for awhile and there is always next Wednesday for a free deal.
I come home to a house filled with the smell of meatloaf lovin' in the oven! Nothing better than to walk into a house with such a yummy smell. I'm so happy now that I passed arby's by. I get to making some mashed potatoes with some potatoes in the potato box while the hubb's asks me when it's going to be done. I snicker, naps must make a growing boy hungry. We finally have a nice dinner, yet it's not at the dinner table. We cheat a little and eat on the couch when the girls aren't home sometimes. The meatloaf is nice and crusty on the ends, just how I like it and the potatoes smooth as silk. Quite a nice and lovely dinner and a bonus of leftovers for tomorrow's lunch if I please. I am getting a little tired of pasta salad, and there is still a container full of about 9 cups. UGH. I might have to push some off on my neighbors. They love anything I bring to them. They are my guinea pigs of food, especially when I bake.
The night winds down with a night of watching the dogs play outside, us watching Wipeout (hilarious), america's got talent and my favorite Ghost Hunters! I'm a tired gal by now and ready to head upstairs to bed. No cravings tonight make for a great night!
We had a grand total today in the allowance of $10.00, making our total of $14.58 so far this week. Doing pretty good so far but it's not any different than any other week.