The "B" Word

Ah, yes. The dreaded "b" word. BUDGETS. As I was looking over our acutals we spent in January, I confirmed my suspicions that we are spending way to much on eating out and groceries. Which means if we keep doing this, my clothing budget will have to expand too :(  So, for February, I am going to attempt to reduce drastically these two areas of our budget.
 I have read so many articles on saving money at the grocery store, couponing, cooking from scratch, once a week cooking, once a month cooking, ect., but each one of those great ideas require massive amounts of time and energy spent on them. Extra time, which I do not have. So, the perfectioninst in me says, well if I can't do it *perfectly*, I must not do it at all. But, I am working on that thinking, because I know that I cannot be *perfect*, nor does God expect me to be *perfect* because He did not create me to be *perfect*.  So, this month, I am going to set up mini goals, and if I don't reach them, it will be ok. Because, you know what? I am not *perfect*. :)  (Maybe I should have titled this post "The "P" Word.")

So, for this week. Here are my goals:

1) Create menu for week. DONE
2) Make list. DONE
3) Go to grocery store. DONE
4) Clean out fridge to make room for new groceries  DONE (not *perfect*, but good enough)
5) Each night before bed, pull meat for next night's dinner & prep veges and stuff

MON - Hot Sausage Burgers with Broccoli Rabe and Provolone - Rachael Ray - Definitely a keeper!
TUE - Dinner Out - for Amanda's Birthday
WED - Taco Soup - Paula Deen  and cornbread
THR - Out - we had several evening appointments and didn't have time to cook
FRI - Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breasts with Tomato and Basil and Potatoes with Peppers and Onions - Rachael Ray
SUN - Crockpot hot roast beef sandwiches (2-3 lb beef roast in crockpot w/jar of sliced pepperoncini peppers, cook all day)

6) Actually COOK the food.  (Um, yeah)

For my own accountability, I plan to update this page this week. If anyone reads this and has any ideas, please comment!