The Early Results Are In!

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Can I just say I love the Chore Chart that I created? It has helped me be a little more organized when it comes to housework. This chart is just like having Ritalin for my housework ADHD! I have stuck to it all week and have had time to 1) read an entire book, 2) practice my knitting AND 3) complete ALL of my laundry. That hardly ever, ever, ever happens. I’m talking sheets, towels, cleaning rags, everything! Granted, this was the first week but I was extremely proud of myself so I will definitely continue to incorporate this into my everyday TO DO list. To finish off this week’s chart I went ahead with my grocery shopping and meal planning today. I wanted to share with you what we will be having over the next 2 weeks. Now I don’t cook everyday but I do cook most days.

· Ground Turkey Meatloaf, Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Frozen Veggies (2)
· Chicken Chimichangas, Spanish Rice and Refried Beans
· Fried Chicken, Sauteed Spinach and Rice Pilaf (2)
· Grilled Chicken, Salad, Baked Beans
· Chicken Alfredo, Garlic Bread, Green Beans
· Rotisserie Chicken, Mac and Cheese, Frozen Mixed Veggies
· Chicken Parmesan, Salad, Rolls (2)
· Frozen Pizza, Popcorn
· “Ham” and Beans, cornbread

As you can tell, Fry’s has chicken breast on sale this week so I made my menu from their sale paper. Where you see (2) these are planned leftover days. That is where the cooking most days comes in. In my family I literally have to place the leftovers in the fridge right after I prepare the food or it will be gone! I like how this menu looks because of the variety and the limited amount of pork and beef that are in the dishes. “Ham” indicates it is really our version of vegetarian as there is not any real meat in this dish just a packet of ham flavoring. This actually turns out better than you would think. I will post that later in the week or maybe next week, whenever I decide to fix that.

Another thing you will notice is I have not assigned days to the menu. I don’t want to box myself in. I can choose what I want to fix from the above menu instead of saying, on Monday I will fix. I like it better that way.

The other part of my menu planning was to go to the grocery and I will let you briefly know about that: First I spent $138 for the next 2 weeks for a family of 6. Now I still need to go to Sam’s club (for a few items, I try not to go crazy even though Sam’s Club is a definite $$ trap, I’ll save that topic for another day) however, I do keep a well stocked pantry to cut down on my grocery bill. I buy multiples of these items when they are on sale. Second, we take part in a fruit and vegetable co-op called Bountiful Baskets and we get all of our fresh fruits and veggies from there. If you would like to know more, please visit their website listed below. This saves us a TON of money and we only take part 2x per month. Here’s a partial list of what we got this past weekend:

· 8 ears of corn, a bag of green beans, 8 med. sized sweet potatoes,
· 2 big bags of grapes, 8 apples, 10 plums, 10 peaches, 8 pomegranates
· 1 head of cauliflower, 2 bunches bananas, 2 heads leaf lettuce,


If you would like more information about this all-volunteer fresh fruit and vegetable co-op please visit http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/.

I continue to journal, try new things and not outwardly complain. This seems to be working for me. Let me know how you are doing in the comments section. Keep Slapping the Bull everyone!