How to Pray for your Husband

Here are two reminders of ways to pray for our husbands. It is very needful that we lift our men up before the Lord every day, that He would strengthen them and help them.
There is no difference between the two graphics, choose whichever one your like best ;)

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Saving money on my grocery bill

I love to save money. It almost kills me to have to pay full price for anything. Tightwad and Frugal Zealot  are titles I wear with great honor--especially after reading all of the Tightwad Gazette books while I still lived with my parents.
My mom taught me how to bargain shop and get the most for my money and soon turned the grocery shopping for the family over to me. I’m so glad that she did because it prepared me and taught me valuable lessons for when I would take over my own home.
Here are some ways that I have learned to save money on groceries:

Have a plan when you go into the store. Make a list, and stick to it. Only buy something not on your list if it is vital and completely necessary.
Never, ever, ever buy groceries when you are hungry. You will spend so much more than you planned and come out with things you really don’t need.  Especially DO NOT take a hungry husband  grocery shopping with you. I find that I spend more money when I have my husband with me, and it is even worse if he is hungry. ;) Be sure to feed yourself and whoever else is going with you before you leave. This way you can stick to your plan and not have your drooling taste buds and growling stomach controlling you.
As I have touched on before, MENU PLANNING is a great way to help save money on food costs. It makes it easier to make a list, and you can save even more money by planning your menu for the week by checking the sale papers first and making your menu from there.
Be willing to try and buy other brands and off or store brands.  Sometimes even when a national brand of sugar (for example) is on sale, the price may not be as low as the store brand.
  If you have freezer space you can catch meats on sale and freeze them for later. Something that Jacob and I have done quite a bit lately is to buy meat in bigger packages as it is usually cheaper that way, and come home and re-package them into smaller meal portions and freeze them. Also, having a hunter for a husband really helps with the meat bill. Our freezer is full of venison. ;)
My latest adventure into an unknown realm of homemaking and saving money has been coupon clipping and shopping. I’ve always used coupons off and on, but I have only really gotten serious about it in the last several months. Before I’d use them if I thought about it or if I saw one I could use—now I faithfully print coupons (more on where from later) and scour over sale papers and when I remember, buy a Sunday paper. Our Sundays are very busy so I forget most of the time to get one.
There are several websites that your obtain and print coupons from. Most of them require that you install coupon printer software, but it only takes a few minutes. Below are some that I visit frequently.
Coupons.com   SmartSource   RedPlum
You can also visit company websites like BettyCrocker.com for more coupons. Usually these coupons offer more of a discount than coupons on the other websites.
There are several websites that offer free coupon toolbars for your web browser. I really like these as it makes it much easier and faster to find coupons for what you use. I have been having so much fun printing coupons and using them. And I have been saving money too so it has been productive fun.`
A great website I like that has lots of awesome couponing tips and resources is Living Rich with Coupons . They have a free coupon toolbar that I really like.
My mom never really used coupons much. She often said that you could often get  into trouble and spend more money by using coupons than not. I didn’t really understand what she meant then, but now I can see what she was saying. I have some people buy something just because they have a coupon for it, and it isn’t something they normally buy, use or need. If something is normally $5, and you have a 50% off coupon for it, but it isn’t something you need or use, that is $2.50 you wasted. An occasional purchase like this here and there won’t hurt, but several at one time definitely add up. What seems like a good deal could be a money trap. Like I said before, make a plan and a list and stick to them.
With this in mind, I have coupon rules for myself. I do not clip/print coupons for items that I do not use.
For cleaning products, I do not have specific brands that I stick with. One month I may buy Brand A because it is on sale and the next month I may buy Brand B because I have coupon that makes it cheaper. Besides, it makes it fun to mix it up, and gives you a chance to find out which ones you really like.
Like I said in the sugar example above, just because you have a coupon for one specific brand, it may not be the best buy. Check prices and make sure you are getting the best deal.
Be sure to check your store’s coupon policy and learn how to make the most of it. If you find an item for less at another store and you bring it to their attention, many stores will sell you the item at the competitor’s price. Some stores will allow you to use a manufacturer’s coupon AND a store coupon on the same item.

I hope these tips will be helpful to you, or remind you of some things you may have forgotten. It can be time-consuming, but to quote the old adage “Time is money.” It is worth it when you can consistently save money and become a better steward of what the Lord has given you.
I’d love to hear some of your tips and ways to save money—please leave a comment and share them;)

Menu Planning

   I grew up in a home that was always busy cooking and baking--almost always from scratch. My mother helped instill a love of cooking in me by always letting me help her, even when my "help" was more of a hindrance than anything else. My daddy helped seal this love of cooking even more by praising my efforts and finding new recipes for me to try. I'll never forget the week or two I tried almost every day to perfect my buttermilk biscuits and make them taste just like my great-grandmother's did--just for Daddy. I did :) and he was so happy and enjoyed them so much. It made all the work worth it.
 Now that I am married, I have a husband who loves my cooking and raves on and on about it to other people. My cooking ability is a great source of pride to him--I think he really thinks there isn't anything I can't make!
 But guess what? I don't always know what to cook, or have inspiration for delicious, healthy meals. Some days I don't feel like cooking, or nothing sounds good at all. Most of the time when that happens I just make sure to have a protein shake and make myself eat something nutritious and move on. That is fine for me, but if you have a hungry hardworking man around the house, that isn't going to cut it. It is too easy to give into temptation and run out and grab a bite to eat--we live so  close to so many restaurants--but that isn't good for us or our bank account.
 I've found that if I plan ahead and make menu plans, we do better about eating at home and I'm not at a loss for what to make for supper.
 Not only does this help us save money, it also helps cut down on costs at the grocery store. When I make the menu plan for the week, I make the grocery list according to what is on the plan for the week. Also, I've found that making the menu plan after checking what is on sale that week helps a lot too.
  When I know what I am cooking for the week it keeps me focused and on track and I am not as liable to just aimlessly buy things. The worst thing for me to do is plan the menu while I am in the store! I will come home with all sorts of things we didn't need.

 My menu plans are very simple right now. I only really have to plan for supper (or dinner, whichever you prefer :) ), and only five suppers a week. Our weekend plans vary from weekend to weekend and we often spend them with my family in the country and Sundays are spent with his parents. So I don't have to plan meals for the weekends.
  Breakfast and lunch are often easy, no-brainers. For lunch I usually send Jacob a sandwich or leftovers from supper the night before, and sometimes he eats lunch out with someone from work.
 Earlier this year I decided to get with the program and plan and be more organized.  I started by making a list of all the meals I could think of off the top of my head. After that, I kept a running list close by for whenever Jacob or I thought of another one. Once I had a pretty good list compiled I sorted the meals into two categories: quick and normal. A few examples of quick: tacos/taco salads, cheeseburgers, BLT's, etc. I mixed up the meals and made sure to have at least one "quick" meal a week in the mix.
  Also another meal that counts as "quick" is a casserole or something from the freezer. Even though I've been cooking for two for almost a year, there are still some things that when I make them, I prepare enough for an army. Casseroles, soups and chicken pot pies, just to mention a few. Thankfully, we were given LOTS of glassware in our wedding showers so when I prepare too much, I can divide it into two meals worth and freeze one. This helps a lot, I just have to remember to set it in the fridge the night before or early the next morning.
I didn't assign specific days to the meals because our schedule is never the same. Below is the result of all that thinking and planning.

 Since then, I've added some new meals to my repertoire, and use the above list more as an idea springboard for when I don't know what to cook. I need to edit it and add more things to it.  I have some new crockpot/slowcooker recipes that are great on busy days or if we eat at home on Sundays.
This list lives on the fridge where I can always see it. I had been keeping it in my three ring binder that I keep my calendar and some recipes in, but it was out of sight and therefore, out of mind. Since it is on the fridge I use it all the time.
 I put together a "menu planner" earlier this week, inspired by one I saw on Pinterest. It has a spot for five suppers a week, and a place to make a grocery list. It is blank and I'll just plan the menu the day I buy groceries.  If you'd like to look at it or use it for your own menus, you can download it by clicking on the link below.

Click Here to Download my Menu Planner 

 Hopefully all these things will make it easier for me to stay on track with my meals. I do really well with lists and checklists.

 I'll be posting some new recipes soon, so stay tuned!

Encourage One Another Link up--Deep Roots at Home