Check out Kim's giveaway for this great Ruche handbag!

Kim is teaming up with Ruche for this great GIVEAWAY!!!
You can enter until Tuesday, June 1 at 11:59pm CT.

Keep Your Money May comes to and end!

Well, I made it! I didn't buy a stitch of clothing all month and lived to tell the tale! There were many temptations - the big Anthro sale, shopping with friends, a Rebecca Minkoff sample sale............and I resisted them all! I feel good at the end of my no-spend month and I feel empowered!

All together I ended up spending around $300 - all for food. I didn't count the expense of our vacation as it was pre-planned a year ago. So, all in all, we did good! We ate through the pantry and the freezer and fridge!

What I learned by doing this exercise:

1. I will only buy clothes I love from now on! It doesn't matter if they are on sale or not - if I love it, I give myself permission to buy it! I won't buy things because another blogger loved it, or every blogger is getting it, but I will buy what I truly love and is truly my style!

2. I will plan out my meals and buy only what is needed for the week! No more stock-piling items. Get the good, quality food I need to make meals for 7 days and make a plan! If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

3. Whatever I need or want, will always be there! In one form or another there is always a sale or a "must-have" item just waiting around the next corner! I don't want to get caught up in the "it's the last one" or "it will be gone" mentality!

4. I will try to "consume" less. I really want to work on this one. I don't just want to keep buying and buying and always be on the lookout for "the next great thing". It's exhausting to me. A lot of energy is zapped out of me by always living in the "want" phase. I want to keep my long-term goals in the fore-front of my mind each time I go to make a purchase!

5. I would rather invest in less quantity to get good quality items. For example, I need to spend some $$ on good skin care for one, instead of settling for the $5 Target stuff. This face has to last me a while longer I hope!

6. Comparison is the death of contentment! Don't compare myself to anyone else! I could never keep up with the monthly purchases of many of my friends. I can't have a new outfit every day in my OOTD posts and that's OK! I realize everything is relative and for me I know my limits and want to stay within them.

7. Be thankful for what I have and realize how very little you actually "need" in this life. God has blessed abundantly. I want to be daily thankful for His provision!

Accidental Heart!

While we were driving to Yosemite, squished in the van like sardines, my son accidentally stepped on the loaf of bread and this was the result! An entire loaf of bread shaped like hearts! Sometimes mistakes turn into something good!

I have my baked beans a'cookin' and looking for a good macaroni salad recipe- then it's off to the beach party with our church family who we love so dear! We are thankful on this day that God has provided us with safety and a free country to live and worship in! God bless those who serve in the military!

We're Back!!

We are back from a week in the woods at Yosemite! I LOVE it there! Our goal was to hike Half Dome - the whole family - but the cables weren't up yet and the trail was closed! Bummer. We will go back later in the year and try again! We did Upper Yosemite which was 7.2 miles round trip and straight up granite rock steps for miles! It took us 6 hours. Sore!!! I will post pictures later - too busy this weekend.

We still have the backpacking trip ahead of us, and it will be a real challenge for me! I am a major germ-a-phobe so I will be stepping WAY out of my comfort zone - for the better I hope! If I think camping opens my eyes, I have a feeling the backpacking trip will floor me.

There is nothing like a week in the woods to make you realize how very little you need. It always gives me a boost and it's a very fitting way to end my Keep Your Money May challenge! My desire for things and wish lists diminish amongst the beauty of nature, the simplicity of life without technology and the sheer vastness of quality time with my family.

Hoping you all enjoy a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with your family!

OOTD- Ahoy there mates!

We are off to do errands- much to get done this Saturday! I think that wearing stripes lends itself perfectly to a headband! I wish I were going sailing in the Hamptons instead of schlepping to Costco!

Shirt: Rodarte for Target $6
Skirt: Converse One Star for Target $6
Shoes: JCPenney
Headband: Ann Taylor $1

These are desperate times and desperate measures are called for.......

I'm pretty much at the bottom of the barrel, the end of my rope, fresh out of ideas and basically exhausted. Yes, I'm whining.

I'm tired of least common multiples, common denominators, converting decimals to fractions, fractions to decimals, mixed numbers, area, perimeter, volume, surface area, converting kilometers to meters, grams to kilograms, ecosystems, respiratory systems, digestive systems, circulatory systems, modern Europe from 1848 to the present, memorizing and mapping US States, using a dictionary, thesaurus, alphabetical order, syllabication, spelling, critical thinking, piano lessons, word roots, reading novels, dictation, typing lessons, EyeQ and the list goes on. Do I sound like a homeschooler about to go bonkers if summer doesn't get here soon?????? Good news, it starts tomorrow! Happy day.

My cupboard is like Old Mother Hubbard's and I'm tired of answering the age old question "What's for dinner?" with things like "potatoes and veggies", "rice and beans", "potatoes and beans", "beans and veggies". We have just about eaten every item in the pantry and freezer and I'm ready for a shopping trip to the grocery! If I don't get some meat soon, I'm going to punch someone.

This was tonight's meal.


Good news, my kids said it was great and asked for seconds - yea for sweet kids! By the time we got to this point in the day we had already had chard, romaine, kale, beet greens, beets, cucumber, apples, blueberries, purple grapes, raspberries, marion berries, banana and strawberries (all in juice or smoothie form) so we had plenty of nutrients and enzymes!

Tomorrow's another day Scarlet, and I will hope for renewed energy to make it to the end of May with as little spending as possible.

Perspective check........

Seen HERE. Please pray for Stephanie's surgery.

Who wants to be a millionaire??

Do you know you have the power to become a millionaire using only the income you currently have? Do you have goals for your money or do you use money based on feelings and emotions? (Right now, after just looking at Rosa in the Perilla dress, I could care less about having $2 million down the road - I want that dress NOW! See what I mean?)

America is a consumer society. Marketers have done a fabulous job of convincing us we NEED so many things. Just look at the ads - the people buying things are so happy, they are with friends and family, their life is enriched by owning and having the products offered by all different kinds of companies. You will be prettier if you use X brand makeup, you will be slimmer if eat X brand food, you will have great times if you drink X brand beverage, you will be in high fashion if you wear X brand clothes. When I really truly stop and think about marketing and all the stops they pull out to get my money, I am really, really turned off by consuming. I am turned off by being wasteful. I am turned off by letting some one else tell me what I like and want and need. (Then the kid in me comes out again and I say I want it, I want it, I want it!)

Here is a chart based on one in the Dave Ramsey book that makes a big point!

Daily Decisions can make a HUGE impact!

Expense	Cost per month	If invested in interest bearing mutual fund from 16-76 *
1 Jcrew shirt	$90	$11,622,000
2 pair of shoes on sale	$150	$19,371,943
1 Anthropologie dress	$160	$20,663,319

You may say these are extreme examples of saving from a young age, and you are already 40. So let’s take a more conservative approach. For example, a 40 year old just starting to save could put $150 a month (the cost of one Anthropologie dress) into an interest bearing mutual fund* for the next 35 years and at retirement have $974,290 – or almost a MILLION dollars!!! If you want to retire at 65, you would have $284,645. So you can see, time is on your side. The younger you start saving and investing, the more you will have in the end.

I took the cost of an outfit I recently saw on Polyvore – total of outfit $276. Invested monthly in a mutual fund* starting at 40 until retirement will bring $1,792,694. So the decision is ours - closet full of clothing that we tire of, give away, donate to Goodwill, constantly replenish or almost $2 million in cash........hmmmmmm.................

This stuff blows my mind! I write this as I am thinking about life and expenses and what I want over the long haul. It's true you may be able to save money and still buy whatever you want each month. It's all relative and it's all very personal. Everyone has to find that balance. Of course in this life we want to have fun and enjoy things! I am just trying to bring to mind a different way to look at things and become more mindful of how my daily decisions influence the big picture. I am also mindful that I am a steward of God's blessings and no money is really "mine" but entrusted to me to manage in this life.

Let me also say that there are many ways to go about managing finances. I really have a hard time reading budget books that say I have to wash out my Ziploc bags and line dry all my laundry- I'm not going to do it. But that works for some people. I love reading Money Saving Mom about how they have saved cash to buy a house! They will have no debt at all! It works for them. I also know people (like my boss) who are already multi-millionaires and have become so by using the OPM (other people's money) method and creative financing. It works for them! There are many ways to financial success!

If you want to do some "number crunching" of your own, based on your actual expenses there is a great calculator HERE. Go through your receipts or credit card statements from the last few months to get a true and clear picture of what you are actually spending on clothing for yourself. Put that number into the calculator, choose 12% as the rate of return (because over the long haul, that is typically what a good mutual fund return is) and you can play with the number of years you have to work with, etc. You may have it within your power to become a millionaire!

*I am using 12% rate of return on the mutual fund scenarios as Dave Ramsey does in his books. He said in the videos, even though the market is currently down, that over the long haul good mutual funds typically return at 12%.

I have emerged victorious & here is a pic of my RAW dinner!

I ventured into the beautiful world that is Anthropologie! I love it so much I want to get a part-time job there! I tried on nearly 15 items and loved many, many of them, but I left empty handed, but satisfied with myself that I had it in me to resist the temptation! I made a promise to myself and I am sticking to it and it feels good! I hardly ever resist a sale and the sale rack was loaded with items I had wanted at full price - Bougainvillea Cardi, Spilling Ruffles Cardi, Circled Adornments Tank.................it helped me that I read Kendi's You Can't Always Get What You Want post before I went. It gave me strength! So then I thought I'd be clever and stop at Goodwill and find a $1 super cute thrifted shirt like Kendi - only where I live in super-expensive land- they want $10 for a thrift shirt! I even saw a salvage Target dress I had gotten last month for $6 selling at Goodwill for $10!!

I did end up buying my little guy (he is actually my big guy now - but I still think of him as my little guy) this shirt at Gap on sale with a 20% off coupon.
Since he was about 5, he has had a Gap patch shirt or jacket and seriously, he wears it every single day!! He had one I bought him at age 5, that he would NOT hand down to his brother until we luckily found a replacement size at a garage sale for $.50- he wore that one - a size 8, until we about ripped it off his body a few months ago because it was so small!! So when I saw this today in a size he can wear now and grow into, and take backpacking and camping, I had to get it for him. He can wear this one until we take it from him at age 18!!

And here is my partially raw dinner! Marinara sauce on zucchini!! I've always read you get more benefits from cooked tomatoes, so eating the cooked sauce on the raw veggies is a win-win!

My new kick.........

I'm on a new kick of getting even more green plant food into out diet. I've already talked about our daily Green Smoothie habit, which consists of blending greens (spinach, kale, chard) with coconut water and berries. They are delicious and my kids gobble them up!



I've been reading about adding still more raw foods into our diet to get live enzymes- enzymes are key to keeping our cells working optimally and staying young! This is my 12 oz glass of Green Lemonade ala Natalia Rose from this morning! I don't have a juicer, so I watched on You Tube how you can make it in your blender, then use a nut milk bag to strain out the pulp and leave the juice only! Clever - and I didn't have to buy a juicer!

Although I do not believe it eating 100% raw, I think eating more foods from plant sources can only help our health. I also believe we need to be eating more "live" foods than "dead" ones (meaning boxed foods). It's funny how you become keenly aware of food and how it changes your body when you discover a food allergy. Gluten and dairy were really doing a number on my body. And I would venture to say sugar is pure poison, because I felt great all day and as soon as I had a little last night, I had an instant killer headache. I have GOT to learn to give this stuff up!

Tonight we will be having spaghetti and I will be eating my sauce on a bed of zucchini "noodles"! Little steps to better eating...............

Anthro Sale Scope Out!

I ran to Anthro on my lunch - it appeared they were forming sale racks by taking select items off the regular racks and placing them all together. While I was in the fitting room the SA's were talking about all the markdowns tomorrow and how several of them had to work to man the sale. They said all markdowns would be complete and on the floor by opening. These are the items that I saw on the rack so far (but there is no guarantee these will be marked down - it just APPEARED they were creating a sale rack):

Rhomboid Rush Dress
Silver Lining Dress
Rising Vapor Dress
Beda Dress
Flipside Blazer
Elevated Eyelet Blazer
Puckerd Eyelet Blazer
Apple Mangrove Cardi
Mermaid Lore Cardi

I don't have time to link them - just wanted to get the word out!

Keep Your Money May - Half Way There Baby!!

Well, today is the 15th and that means that I am half-way thorough my Keep Your Money May experiment (well technically tomorrow at noon it will be half-way). Even eating through my pantry and freezer, it's been hard. To date I have spent $245 total this month. It's way more than I thought I would spend by this point, but I seriously do NOT know what I could have done differently, because I have only purchased needed grocery items. Things like milk, bread, fruit, greens.

The other day I was at Costco, getting something for work and I caved in to the 2 loaves of "whole grain white" bread for $4.59. Two huge size loaves for that price? That will make a lot of lunches for 3 hungry kids. It said "no high fructose corn syrup and no trans-fat" - so I was tempted because it was cheap and I didn't have a lot to spend. So I bought it. Even though I know that this bread is not what I would consider a healthy choice. I don't consider any store bought bread a great option except for sprouted breads because they are all so highly processed, full of chemicals and give essentially no real nutrition. But when you have $20 in your wallet, you do crazy things!!

On the plus side, I have spent nothing on clothing. Yea me! Now about that Tuesday Anthro sale.................

I have been gifted items this month that total $385!! Many were items that I had on my wish list for a long time! Amazing!

I have run out of my Clinique moisturizer, my Cover Girl 415 Blushberry shine lipstick, my Neutrogena Pure lip gloss - I even had the q-tip out scraping the bottom of the tube! I've walked longingly through Target wanting to buy another lipstick, but I decided I'm going to use up all the ones I already have so I got out my Burt's Bees lipgloss and the Clinque lipstick I got in the last free gift with purchase set!

My friend Rachel, got me interested in the Natalia Rose books and putting more raw foods into our diet. I wanted to go buy her book so badly today - but guess what I did? I went to the bookstore, found a nice seat and read over several chapters! I also requested it from the library and hope it comes in soon. Now because of what I learned in those books, I want a Breville Juicer, so I will have to start saving for that purchase!

At any rate, I've spent WAY less on groceries than I normally do, so that is a plus for this month! After my pantry is used up, I am going to change to a different method of shopping where I make a menu, and only buy what I need for that week's meals. I have a good friend at church who does this very successfully and I want to give it a go. I guess that will be my June experiment!

OOTD- Saturday Soccer Mom!

Headed to the soccer game of my girl! It's a cold one out today! This is an outfit where I believe less is more. The pattern of the shirt has interest enough on it's own.

Shirt: Simply Vera Wang Kohls
Jeans: Liz C. Wide Leg Trouser
Shoes: Ariat
Coat: Billabong

I got this Billabong coat - which is standard high fashion for my area because of living on the coast - EVERYONE wears Billabong, Roxy and other fashion "surfer" wear! This is a sweatshirt material, super thick and warm, but much cuter tailoring than a standard "hoodie"! Anyhow, these sell for about $80, and I got mine at Ross for $24!! This will serve me for many a soccer game!
Gotta have my Ariat's to navigate the soccer field in the cold. No sandals today or frozen toes!

This just in.................

I just read about Anthro's "biggest sale of the year" HERE and HERE and HERE.

And now I'm going to cry. Good buy - I mean good bye!

UPDATE: I just called my favorite store to ask about the sale. The SA said that it will be one of their larger sales, with heavier markdowns than they typically make. She said she had no idea yet what was going on sale. She also said it unfortunately won't be as large as they have been in the past, but she said to stop by on Tuesday or Wednesday to check it out. At my store, they usually are making the markdowns on Tuesday, so you really don't get a true read until Wednesday! So, that's a tiny scoop from my neck of the woods!

The importance of body brushing!

I have to give a shout out to my blog friend Yogagirl for sharing this wonderful, informative post on her blog today about the benefits of body brushing! You can read about it

HERE

CSA and Outfit of the Day!

Yeah! Our first CSA box arrived today! It's from a local organic farm and we are trying the Fast Fruit and Veg box for starters. Everything in it looks beautiful! It was $25 for this small box though, so I'm not sure I can keep it up. I can still get better deals on organic by doing the "leg work" myself. Doesn't it look pretty?

Here are my first batch of soaked, sprouted almonds, almost ready to take out of the dehydrator! To learn why it's so important to spout your almonds prior to eating, read HERE. In fact, eating them the wrong way can even deplete your body of needed vitamins and minerals. It's vitally important that the almonds are raw and not pasteurized for the enzyme releasing process of soaking to work. In addition to spouting them, I then dehydrate them for on-the- go healthy snacks.

I used some of my CSA goodies to create my Hot Pink Smoothie. These goodies + frozen strawberries turns into...............

THIS body-fueling, life-giving shake!

And another nautical OOTD! I found this little shirt at Ross and I was drawn to it because of the nautical colors, the asymmetrical lines and the contrast stitching and buttons. It was $7.99.

Shoes from JCPenney last year. I was trying to re-create a pair of shoes NieNie wore on her blog which I'm sure were from Anthropologie! I love ankle straps. I had a pair in 6th grade I wore every-single-day!

Acting silly with my photographer, JS!

The artistic pose!

Keep Your Money May - The Pantry- Pickins are getting Slim!

Oh boy. Is it only the 12th? Help me. This is hard. Food is getting scarce around these parts. I am really doing my best to use it up and make do, but soon we are going to be eating quinoa and water only because that's about all I have left! Well, that's an exaggeration, but just a tiny one. I had to go back to the store today for a few items in order to create meals out of what is left.

In the next few days we will be having Quinoa Pesto, Louisiana Red Beans & Rice, Pinto Beans and Fried Potatoes and the Chipotle recipe for Black Beans with cornbread. I have no meat left. We ate the last of the venison steak we had in the freezer from last year. I spent $21 at the grocery and I will need milk tomorrow. I bought a 10 pound bag of potatoes because those will go a long way and I still have 1/2 of my Costco size bag of pinto beans. If need be we can have Pinto Beans 101 ways! I gave myself $200 at the beginning of the month and I think I only have about $20 left!! I am not going to make it to month's end on that $20.


These 12 days have seemed like a month. I just want to go to the store and buy what I want! I want it, I want it, I want it!! (This is me throwing a temper tantrum!) I guess I am finding out I am spoiled. I pretty much buy whatever I want, whenever I want. So blessed. So much to eat, so much variety, so many choices, so easily available! I can go to 1 of 10 stores within 10 minutes and get choice, organic, beautiful food. What if I was my great-grandmother who had to grow her own food and butcher her own chickens, mill her own wheat (oh wait, I already do that- I am kinda crunchy is some ways!)

I'm feeling extra hippie and healthy today. I did 5.5 miles on the elliptical, did my Total Gym workout, I am dehydrating almonds as we speak and I had 2 Green Smoothies today (along with some Dove Milk Chocolate Caramels and a handful of Chex Gluten-Free Muddy Buddies - gotta keep the balance).

So, if you have any fabulous, can't live without pinto bean recipes, please send them my way!! June 1st is a loooooong way off!

P.S. - I won Maria's Giveaway at Infinite Whimsy!! So excited!! June can't come soon enough for me to spent that Anthro gift card!!

Keep Your Money May - How does your spending effect your family?

This past week during the Dave Ramsey session, he quoted this verse from Proverbs 31:11-12

¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
¹²She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.

I have heard Proverbs 31 over and over during my life. I have read it many times and I have heard many lessons taught from it. But hearing this verse singled out really gave me pause. The verse is saying that the husband trusts his wife to be a wise steward, and in doing so, he will have plenty. This means the wife's spending habits directly effect the prosperity the family will have. I have a great responsibility!

Is your husband counting on you to spend wisely, manage the finances and household to the long term benefit of your family? My husband is trusting in me in this regard and so is my Lord. The Lord has blessed us with EVERYTHING we have - even the very air we breathe! We owe Him so much and the least I can do is my very best to manage our blessings well.

To keep myself in check I like to ask myself hard questions such as:

1. If I make little purchases "here and there" which seem insignificant because their price is small, will I keep my family from some long term goal (vacation,savings, etc.)? Otherwise known as "Nickel & Diming" myself to death!

2. Is this something I really love? Or am I buying it because someone else loved it or suggested it? (Blog reading is really bad for encouraging these types of purchases!)

3. What am I teaching my children with my purchases? To never be satisfied? There is always something better I need to obtain? That "things" make me happy? I can never have enough to be content? Children are very keen and pick up quickly!

4. Am I displaying selfishness in my purchases? (Example: Telling the kids they have enough so-and-so items, but Mom needs another dress - despite having 15 in the closet already.) Sends mixed messages. How can you ever teach the principle of contentment?

5. Ask your children this question. "What is the most important thing to Mommy?" or "What makes Mommy the most happy?" You may be surprised at the answers you get. Do they say "looking pretty", "shopping", "a new purse"! What should be most important to Mommy is having a heart for God and living His Word in my life.

I am chronicling this No-Spend journey for myself, so I can learn and grow. I am in no way telling anyone else what to do in their life. I am simply writing things I am experiencing during this time and if it helps anyone else, I would be glad.

I am not perfect and I often make mistakes and hope that I learn from them and won't repeat them. Thank God for his patience in my life as I continue to study, pray and grow in His grace during my Christian walk in this life.

Day 6 - Keep Your Money May Expenses

Today I had to buy some food - my children were begging for fruit! How pitiful is that? My house that is typically over flowing with fruit but I am buying less and trying to making things stretch. So I had to stop for some fruit and a few perishables.

Safeway $10.60
Trader Joes $20.51
Farmers Market Unpasteurized Almonds to dehydrate $20 for 5 pounds (ouch) did you know almonds have to be soaked and dehydrated to release their nutritional benefits?
Total Spent $51.11

It's pretty hard to spend next to nothing on food..........I seriously do NOT know what the people eat who write blogs and spend $200 a month!! My grocery budget is one area where I really try to make the most of our food - organic, grass-fed, free-range, preservative free, fresh. I always make an effort to buy on sale, etc. but let's face it - eating healthy is more costly than eating junk. I think I'm going to try the organic delivery box soon. Pay for it now or pay for it later in the form of medicine and doctor visits! Looks like some good tips are to be found over at Simple Mom on the subject!
So anyone want to chime in?? What do you spend on groceries? Do you think buying organic and fresh is worth the investment?

OOTD- Apples are good for you!

After seeing Jan in her Red Delicious Blouse belted, I thought I'd give it a go for work today for a different look. Have I said how much I LOVE THIS SHIRT??? It reminds me of a shirt my mom used to have!

Blouse: Anthropologie
Belt: Old Navy
Skirt: Ross
Shoes: Franco Sarto

Keeping Your Money May and Making Homemade

I'm up later than I want to be working on home-made foods for the family! This is what happens when you can't just spend money on the pre-made, nifty foods at the store! Here is my granola that I love so much - got the recipe from Robyn at Green Smoothie Girl in my 12 Steps to Whole Foods book. It's soooo delicious! I had been buying the Trader Joe's Gluten Free Granola like a mad dog, but at $3.49 for like a 10 oz. bag, it wasn't getting it for May. We eat this for cereal and for snacks or on top yogurt or Sambazon Acai Bowls!

I'm also working on steel-cut oats for my husband as he eats these every other morning. I was buying the Trader Joe's pre-made ones - 2 for $1.59, but this is much, much cheaper. I make up a big pot with several servings, then we can just reheat them as we need them. I've been buying THESE ONES so I can partake too, gluten-free!

I'm also cooking up some short grain rice- my favorite one is Lundberg - so I can have Bethenny's Brown Rice Breakfast some mornings. It's sooo good and gluten-free!

Day 5 - Keep Your Money May.....Returns and Expenditures

I had some items I decided to return to Target today. Everything was a return except one item I did not have a receipt for that did not show up in the computer, so I had to take it back with me. I will either loose the pounds to wear it or ship it to my sister!

Total Returns back to my card:$42.31
Total Returns on gift card: $12.01

So I used my Gift Card to buy:
2 boxes Granola Bars for hubby (on sale and $1 coupon) $2.38
Organic Milk half-gallon: $3.54
Total: $5.92

Then I finally mailed my last giveaways out: $3.80
Got some groceries: $7.77

Groceries: $13.69 (only $7.77 out of pocket)
Postage: $3.80
Total Spent Today: 11.57
Total for Month: $43.24

Not shabby. I haven't even showered yet today. I worked out once in the morning doing Pilates, then a mile hike up the mountain. Then our teacher came to meet with the kids for review, during which time I baked a gluten-free cake. Then more cooking, cleaning, school, trying to come up with a dinner from the ingredients I have on hand. Then I did 5 miles on the elliptical, so I now need to get ready for church. Not spending is a lot of work!

I googled garbanzo beans because I had a can of those and some potatoes. So tonight we are having this Easy Chickpea Curry with peanut rice (I used my last cup of rice and last of the peanuts to make). I just took a bite- it's absolutely delicious! Eating from my pantry is GOOD!



I'm learning a lot already from my little experiment. I'm learning true appreciation for what we have and what we take for granted daily. I told my kids it's hard being in the grocery and having to put back the yogurt, because $.50 a cup is too much. It's hard coming up with things people actually want to eat from what you have on hand. It really, really makes me think of those who are less fortunate than I..........really makes me feel a little bit of what they must feel on a daily basis (on a very small scale, not that I can even really know the trials and stress of poverty in America).

Does anyone remember that scene in The Pursuit of Happyness, where the mom is cleaning up the dinner table? She puts back every scrap of food they didn't eat in a Tupperware and pours the Kool-aid from the USED cups back into the pitcher. That scene has stayed with me and I've thought of it over and over as I scrape food into the trash can after dinner. They were so poor, they couldn't throw away a scrap of food or a bit of drink. Wow.

It's been good to take a spending hiatus, step back and think.

One obsession replaces another........

I've replaced one obsession with another.

I better start shopping again soon or I'm going to kill myself (with exercise).

I rode my bike 5.5 miles and did 6 miles on the elliptical.

Maybe as a side benefit to saving money, I'll finally get back into my workout groove........

He blesses and blesses again......

I'm only 3 days into my resolve to spend more intentionally and be a better steward, and yesterday I was gifted a brand new Excalibur Dehydrator! This has been on my Amazon wish list for 2 years now and I had just posted about wanting it HERE the other day! Wow, I can't believe it! Thank you to my friend Tami!! I am so excited to start using Robyn's recipes in this thing - making more raw, live foods!

OOTD- Happiness

I got up this morning to take a walk because it was such a beautiful day! We are hiking Half Dome this spring, so I really need to get some sort of training going daily. I thought I would save some gas money and walk to the store for the ingredients I needed to make the Dr. Oz Green Drink for breakfast. Going was pretty good - but coming back with 3 pounds of organic apples, 2 bags of chard, a cucumber, 4 lemons, 2 limes and 1 mango in tow was harder! I mapped it when I got home - it was 7.5 miles round trip!

If you think that is impressive, let me brag on my husband for a moment- last night he rode 21 miles on his bike - practically all of them up hill! I'm married to a machine! This is also impressive in that he has only been on his good eating and exercise plan for 2.5 months! He is a born athlete - guess that is the benefit, once you start back to exercise, you just spring right back into shape. He has lost over 30 pounds in these 2.5 months!

So, I spent $9.43 this morning on my ingredients. I made the Dr. Oz Green Drink for our breakfast and it did taste like a "glass of fresh" as Oprah puts it!

Here is my outfit of the day.............happiness in a Target hat! That's about all..........happy with intention to reach my goal in May and have fun along the way!

Keep Your Money May Day 2!

It's only day two, but temptations lurk everywhere! They started in the form of my Anthropologie catalog arriving yesterday and ended with a drive to the city, to my favorite area, with my favorite coffee shop and I resisted! Score one for Peg!

Today's Dave Ramsey lesson was on "The Debt Trap". Because of my husband's planning and fore thought, we have never done debt (save our mortgage - which is only a 10 year) but the lessons today made me really, really re-think my use of credit cards for convenience. Statistics show people spend something like 20% more when using credit cards as opposed to cash.......hmmmm......food for thought. I know to me, using cash hurts much more than swiping my card. The loss of funds is immediate, so I really have to think twice if I want the product.

Anyhow, I think I'm off to a good start. I'm even feeling like I am going to return some "unnecessary" items I bought at the end of April (Dave Ramsey has that effect on you!) Today for potluck I made veggies that I already had on hand and a cake I had on hand with homemade icing (only takes powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and a dash of milk)! Typically I would spend about $15 on the dishes I prepare for potluck, but today the brethren had to endure my "pantry" food!

Only 29 more days to go!

Day 1 - Keep Your Money May - The Pantry

Well, here are the"before" pics! Let's see what I can get rid of this month by eating through what we already have and see how creative I have to become making up meals!

Pantry

Freezer

Fridge