Sunday through lunch time today followed the schedule. Tonight's a bit different though. I thought I had 6-8 chicken thighs for last night's dinner, but it was 10. So I burned cooked six and used the other four to make chicken noodle soup in the crock pot for dinner tonight. I also found a baggie in the freezer with about 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese that DH didn't use for a pizza, so I got out a loaf of GF bread and I'll make cheese garlic toast tonight instead of the tapioca bread ball things. And I'll cook the sausage and broccoli pasta too, and portion that out for lunches for the next couple days. That should get us back on track by tomorrow. I'm curious how closely others end up sticking to their menus for the week, and what ends up causing the changes and derailments. Groceries ended up a bit higher this time, and I didn't even buy the meat I had planned on due to the grocery store renovation - $75.44. I did buy cheese, because we'll run out before next month's Costco trip, and DH has been consuming GF pretzels and Dr. Pepper constantly to stave off boredom and dizziness from his cold or pseudo-flu or whatever it is.

I finally got the cell phone stuff straightened out. DH’s old phone is now a yearly prepaid backup, he’s using his (free) work phone, and I dropped mine down to the cheapest plan I could without switching providers. It would be a bit cheaper elsewhere, but for a few reasons it makes sense to stay where I’m at for now. $40/month saved. I think the only bill I can work on reducing is trash pickup. We have the more expensive company, but they don’t charge extra for bulk item pickup, which was handy during renovations. Once I’m sure we’re done with the DIY and large item removal, I’ll see about switching. Maybe I’ll call for a quote this week. Car insurance came out of the account, but other than that, zero spending for five days! I have to go grocery shopping tonight though. DH is still sick, which saves a bunch on gas, and so far we’ve had enough meds on hand without running to Walgreens. I had my first Instant Pot failure last night, but managed to switch it to the stove/oven and salvage the meal. Gluten free orzo is NOT IP friendly! It’s barely stovetop friendly! Apparently it burns and sticks to everything it touches. We were still able to eat it, eventually, and very little had to be trashed (just the really burned chunks of pasta). The two youngest did end up with PB&J for their main course, because it ended up taking me almost two hours to get it done. Oh well.

TBH, and this is coming from someone who is emetophobic and germaphobic, the quotes are mostly rehashes of common articles about "things that people who specialize in food poisoning NEVER eat" - bean sprouts, raw stuff, etc. - but tailored toward the Top News Item, the shutdown. Ground meats have always been a bit iffy because they don't come from a single source animal, unless they are ground in the shop (or at home) from a single cut. The risk is a bit overblown, and inspections at full force can't be as thorough or frequent as we imagine them to be. The vast majority of "food poisoning" cases are going to come from a sick or still-recovering person preparing your food in a restaurant, or some protocol not being followed during the preparation. After we had to change our diet and stopped eating anything not prepared by ourselves, stomach illnesses happened way, way, WAY less frequently. Almost never. That's where it was all coming from, restaurant and fast food (and stall-licking toddlers, thank goodness we've outgrown that). Much more frugal too!

Don't quote me on this, because this was what I remember from news reports, but I believe the USDA actually covers meat inspections, not the FDA, and I don't think their inspections are included in the partial shutdown (at this time). <insert caveat about USDA and competing interests here> Even using maximum caution, frozen and/or cooked produce should be okay, and I think seafood is high-risk and would be an essential inspection. DH was a non-essential contractor with both USDA and DoD during previous shutdowns and was never sent home. Although shutdown concerns is part of the reason why he's not a contractor anymore. ETA: Second bolded part - I started doing that on January 1st this year. Every purchase, listed by category and method of payment. I also started trying to "clump together" purchases on certain days, instead of making a stop here and a stop there all week long. And all online purchasing happens on Sunday only. I think it is helping reduce those little trips that add up, and there's some gratification in having so many days with no money spent at all.

You know what's pretty cool? Even though we all have different dietary needs and live in different parts of the country, our menus have a lot of common themes - winter veggies, tacos and enchiladas, meat stocked up from recent sales, using up leftovers, soup and chili. That's really neat to see the variety of ways frugal meal planning works with family preferences and needs. We're heading into our fourth zero-spending day (that includes bills and automatic payments, too!). The kids have a couple activities today that are either free or already paid for. DH is sick, but I tried to stock up on cold and flu meds with sales before the season of illness hit. Hopefully that will be enough.

Oooh, menus. I'm working on mine instead of writing until my hand falls off out the kids' work for the week (because I am too lazy to fix the printer link from my computer so I can type and print it). Except now I really want cabbage roll casserole... and cauliflower soup... and broccoli cheese soup. Tonight: Leftovers. Two kinds of chicken tortilla soup (chipotle or reflux-friendly), ham and bean soup, baked pears and granola, cornbread, salad, homemade GF pretzel bites and cheese sauce, and snow. Monday: Black Bean Enchiladas, Roasted Potatoes, Avocado Ranch Dip, Salad Tuesday: Lemon Pepper Chicken and Orzo, Brussels Sprouts... although I don't have any lemon pepper, so it may just be pepper chicken Wednesday: Sausage and Broccoli Pasta, Brazilian Cheese Balls (depending on my mood), Salad Thursday: Ranch Pork Chops, Roasted Whatever Vegetables are Left, Apples (Baked? Raw? Sauced?) Friday: Junk Food Night (Frozen Pizzas and Tater Tots) Saturday: Ham, Cheese Grits, Toast, Fruit and Veggies (for lunch, weekend dinners are leftovers) Sunday: Lentil Risotto, Veggies TBD There's a lot of ranch-this and ranch-that. I stocked up on ranch dressing last summer when it was really cheap at Costco, and the expiration date is the 23rd of this month. I'm trying to use up the last bottle before the end of the month.

Definitely a no-spend weekend. 10 inches of snow yesterday and last night, and it’s still snowing. We’re making up for last year, when we didn’t have ANY snow at all. At least I didn’t waste money buying a (probably too expensive) three-kid sled at Costco last month. After I bought it, I worried it would be money wasted if we didn’t end up with snow again. I think it’ll get some use this weekend!

Grocery shopping was... interesting last night. Apparently Thursday is the worst for finding quality produce (I guess they don’t put more out until Friday morning?), made even worse by everyone preparing for the impending snowstorm. And Aldi is doing a partial remodel, which shrunk the “freezer/pasta” aisle to barely one cart width. I think I’m going to have to switch to Friday night shopping. I did score some good markdowns: corn tortillas for 50¢, organic frozen kale for 99¢, two big bags of holiday tortilla chips for $1.00 each, shredded cabbage for 99¢. I also found some pumpkin spice latte ice cream pints for 99¢, but passed on that because I don’t need it at all. I hope it makes some frugal shopper happy someday... Grocery total for January is now $201, and that will cover us until the next trip on the 18th. $400 is still a realistic goal this month! And we’re about to have a few weather-induced zero-spending days, just sledding and shoveling and board games and cocoa.

DH has a CPAP that is silent, but I can hear it anyway. Kind of like how you can walk into a building and know there’s a TV on somewhere, on mute. He did a research study for a new machine and that thing was awesome! I couldn’t even hear it existing, but sadly, he had to return it when the study was over. I think both machines have been Fischer and Paykel’s. DH is usually on the low end of normal weight and has had sleep apnea diagnosed since his 20’s. It got worse after his back injury and attempts at chiropractic care, so I suspect that’s actually the driving force behind the snoring and apnea. ENT ruled out tonsils and sinuses as the cause (although I disagree that they are “fine”). He still snores lightly with the CPAP on, and I think that’s because the issue doesn’t originate with airway at all, but his spine. I just go to bed first, and I stick an earbud in one ear with rain sounds playing from a streaming app. It shuts off and falls out of my ear about the time DH settles in and the light snoring stops. The only time I wake up is when the nose piece is at the end of its useful life, because it pops off and “whistles” obnoxiously.

Any updates tonight? Sorry if you posted on a different thread and I missed it.

Yay! Congrats! 🏠

😞 Sorry about the car (and the forced frugality!). I know someone who was sitting at a stoplight partially under a highway overpass this year, and a deer jumped off the overpass and landed on the hood of the car. It seemed like it took FOREVER for the insurance to deal with everything, and it wasn't even totaled, just not drivable until repaired.

I took two boxes worth of outgrown sporting goods equipment to the resale shop and ended up with enough store credit to buy used skates for DS10 and myself. That way we didn't have to pay for rentals for anyone (DS9 and DS5 played hockey and still have skates). DH's baseball glove broke in the fall (DS10 pitched a hole through it), and I finally found him a used first baseman's mitt that should work better for warming up (increasingly harder pitching) 10- and 11-year-olds this spring. I didn't spend anything for the skates, and the glove was replacing a broken, necessary item, so I'm still sticking to my self-imposed shopping rules. And I'm glad I found a used glove for DH, because brand new adult baseball gloves are so, so expensive. The used one was $40, and that was a steal (get it? baseball? steal? I'll show myself out...). Bonus, two less tubs of "stuff we don't need" in the house. I actually have a big shelf downstairs full of empty storage bins, and it's ironically very cathartic to add to the collection. Do you have the rewards app for Schnucks? There's a bunch of P&G coupons under the "home" section. Depending on what you get, you could get you close to completely "free after coupon/rebate".

He did most of it. I got most of the supplies out, cut up the lobster and layered everything in the dish, because I was trying to make a smaller batch of lobster-less mac and cheese and wanted to make sure I had enough left. DS5 helped with the salads. DS9 was supposed to help with the biscuits, but ended up alternating between engrossed in a book and whining about his pre-dinner food options (fruit, chopped veggies, or salad... no you cannot have Christmas candy instead...).

Hope this all works out! It would be nice to get a house now before the busy spring house buying season starts up. Doesn't make for any less hand wringing now, though.

Made it all the way to January 6th before buying anything non-consumable. I was hoping it would be a lot longer than that! It did follow my "personal rule" about non-consumable purchases though, only replacing broken and necessary items. The charcoal starter fell apart a few weeks ago, and it took way too long to get the coals going on the grill last night without it. And DH dropped and shattered his travel coffee mug at work last week. I had gift cards to cover both items, and also used a Target coupon for the travel mug. If your store has been remodeled, watch for a $5 off a $15 purchase coupon in the mail. I'm at $154 for the month on groceries and $51 on non-grocery consumables, but that includes January stock up trips to both Costco and Sam's. Usually 1/3 to 1/2 of my monthly budget is gone by this point, so I'm on the right track. That even includes some packaged things for DH to throw in his desk at work for long/busy/hangry days. We're having a relatively not-frugal dinner tonight. My oldest is a huge fan of MasterChef Junior and gourmet cooking in general, and he's been asking me for several months to make something with lobster. He originally had a lobster curry with 30 (!!!) unique ingredients picked out, but I talked him into a lobster macaroni and cheese. I was able to buy decent cheese and lobster tails at Aldi during holiday sales, and ordered a case of gluten free macaroni with my Amazon Subscribe and Save last month. We'll see how it goes. Also throwing together a salad and some GF cheese garlic biscuits with the rest of the Cup4Cup flour left over from some holiday baking. I've never actually had lobster before, so this will be a new experience for all of us. Well, the "all of us" that will actually eat it. I suspect the other two kids will be having leftover not-lobster.

Pumpkin: It was someone on this board that tipped me off onto the pumpkin idea (Jean in Newcastle, maybe?). I use about half a can per batch of chili, and honestly you can't taste the pumpkin. It gives it the thickness and scant sweetness that you usually get from the tomato paste or puree. DH and DS10 add hot sauce to their chili anyway to get that vinegary bite, and my chili already has a bit of brown sugar. You might have to up the salt a bit to bring out the spices, but not much. There's also this Chipotle Pumpkin Pasta that I like to make when everyone else is having marinara or spaghetti or something. DH thinks it looks like pumpkin pie on penne noodles, but that's fine, more for me. Aldi vs. everywhere else: The cost difference on most things probably is negligible if you are already shopping frugally. Our Walmart is just bat guano crazy most of the time, the parking lot is huge, the store is huge, the lighting gives me a headache. I worked at a different Walmart for six years during high school and college, and it was NOT like the one near me. I do like the "quirkiness" of Aldi - no shelves, the quarter for the cart, having to bring bags or pay for them, the weekly "What's the special buy gonna be?!", "fancy" cheese for cheap cheese prices (I have a block of applewood cheddar, a block of some kind of smoked gruyere, a log of blueberry vanilla goat cheese, and some white cheddar in my fridge now that we didn't get around to eating over the holiday). The employees have been there forever, know me, know my kids. I run into my neighbors and fellow patients from the orthodontist office there, and even the customers I don't know are friendly and personable. I can't always find everything I'm looking for there, but oddly that's part of the thrill of it. I think need a new hobby besides "going to Aldi", haha! I imagine that if I had a crummy, run-down Aldi, I wouldn't be as keen on the quirks. Funny thing about the milk though... most organic or higher end milk here is shipped in from California. There's a "local dairy" that sells $6-7/gallon milk in glass bottles (you have to pay a deposit per bottle), but it's coming from several hours away in another state. However, there's a dairy farm for one of the brands of regular ol' name/store brand that's two or three miles from my house. Go figure, lol. We don't have a Kroger or any other national chain store here, either, except a couple WF and TJs in higher end suburbs. Other than Aldi (and Walmart), we're dominated by local chains. The pack of romaine that I bought last night at one of those chains is the exact same brand that Aldi sells (I had an app coupon, which made it ~0.50 cheaper than Aldi). They all get their produce from the same distributors. I've actually found the Aldi produce to be better because the turnover is much quicker.

I know my butter, baking powder, and powdered sugar are all from Aldi. I usually get chocolate chips from there, but didn’t end up needing many this year. I do use the milk and dark chocolate bars for melting and coating truffles. I also buy ghee (for stovetop popcorn), sweetened condensed milk (I make my own coffee creamer with it) and evaporated milk (for queso and cream sauces) there in the baking section. Oh, and canned pumpkin! Because of my reflux, I use pumpkin for anything with tomato paste (soups, chili), and it’s about half price. GF specific items we like are the pretzels (wheat pretzels taste like barf to me, these are good), French fried onions (use on salads and baked potatoes), and knock off Larabars/protein bars. Their store brand Rice Krispies are gluten free (name brand are not), and I use them to make chewy granola bars. Everything is labeled better for GF there, as long as I remember to read the label before buying. My list was pretty small for Aldi yesterday (gallon of milk, 11lb chicken breast, OJ, eggs, 6lb bananas, 3lb apples, 3 cucumbers, 2lb carrots, 1lb box organic spring mix, 3lb mandarins... some other produce I’m forgetting), but my total there was $39.99, and $17.02 of that was the chicken. That being said, Walmart here is a chaotic madhouse and I try to only go in once a year for the rare thing I can’t find anywhere else (last year it was badminton birdies). Also, we have sales tax on groceries in MO. It’s 6.35% at the Aldi I shop at. I know some states don’t.

The goal was under $100 for grocery shopping today. Final total... $59.62! And so much easier to put stuff away when I got home, lol.

Honestly, we're over that for at least the past few months, for five people, and that's with food alone, not non-food items. There are lots of reasons for that: stockpiling the new freezer, gluten free baking items, holiday sales on more expensive items, food items used for non-eating purposes (gifts, science projects, etc.). We also eat every meal at home. 21 meals a week, for everyone, every week. No church potlucks or family dinners or school/work lunches. We do eat a lot of beans and rice, and all of our leftovers, but it just adds up, especially when I have to buy gluten free versions of "cheap foods". It was a pain in the butt to find lentils and black eyed peas without cross contamination warnings! We have optimized and pared down in every other spending category, but food is still tricky. I have enough of a stockpile built up now that I can challenge myself to stay under $500 for the month. $600 might be more realistic, but we'll see. Tonight's the first shopping trip, Aldi and two local chains. If I can stay under $100 for all three stores combined, I'll be thrilled. I still have to do a monthly Costco and Sam's run on Sunday. I have a Costco membership, and my mom has a Sam's membership, that was we can take advantage of both stores.

I get it cut every 15-18 months, but it’s essentially been in a pony tail since the Perm Incident of First Grade. So... every 30 years or more.

Oh come on Netflix, I have GOT to get some school planning done tonight, and you come out with this??? Off to get a snack, drink, and comfy pants, will check back in later.

All the non-produce sales and special buys start on Wednesday, but for some reason produce starts on Sunday. I can't remember where I read it, but some of the stores "split" the sales cycle and some do not. I have no idea why, it's very odd!

I think I'd have to bribe my kids to go to Disney. They are getting a little better about this, but at one point if they saw a Frozen character they would yell, "NOPE!" and turn and run right out of the room. So embarrassing. They come by it naturally; I have the same gut reaction, but I've had 25+ more years than they've had to learn to control it in public! 🤣

Yep, Aldi runs their produce sales Sunday through Saturday. The two local chains I go to run their sales starting on Tuesday or Wednesday, but they often have "mega sales" on Thursdays. I figured I can hit them all that way. We're going to Florida, a few days at Legoland and a few at Universal Studios. The kids have been asking for Legoland for a long time, and if we wait any longer, they'll be too old to enjoy it. I'm not a huge fan of traveling because of health issues making it uncomfortable and limiting, but I'm really trying to not let that get in the way of making memories as a family, whether it's a vacation or just a nightly walk around the block. We'll see how it goes.