My Glam Ipsy Bag for February

My Ispy bag came.  It just love getting the Ipsy, My Glam Bag in the mail each month.  This is my second month getting the bag.

First I just love opening the mailbox and seeing that bright pink envelope!  Yea!  Ipsy Day!

The bag is a cute little black patent leather like bag with a bright red lining.   Perfect for Valentine's Day and February.  

Inside we found a trial size Pop mascara.  I tried the mascara and really liked it.  It didn't clump and did not smear during the day.  We got a Mica gel eyeliner in Black.  I have not tried it yet because I just bought a gel eyeliner and thought I would save this one.  We received some lash cards, which I love the idea of, but I must admit I have yet to use it.  There was some Pixi primer, which I also like.  It came in a large tube.  Lastly there was Coastal Scents eyeshadow quad, trial size.  I have never tried Coastal Scents before and was so pleased with the amount of pigment in the eyeshadow that I ordered a warm palette from their website.

This Week's Menu

February's Menu

Ok.  It is the middle of February (the 15th to be exact)...and how are we doin' on our food and budget.  Pretty good.  We stretched January's food until about the eighth of February.  Bought a few things and stretched out what was leftover from the January Meals.  On February 8th I purchased food for a week's worth of meals.

Meals purchased for February so far:

Tacos

Chicken and Pepperoni

Crispy Parmesan Chicken

Sausage and spinach Risotto

Pasta w/sausage and vegetables.

Changes:  didn't make the pasta yet.  We made a fritatta for dinner tonight with the leftover spinach, onion and mushrooms and sausage...delicious.  I cooked the fritatta in the oven which was easier.  It came out really good.  We have plenty left over for breakfast in the morning.  I think I will use the rest of the sausage and make stuffed bell peppers instead of the sausage and pasta because we have a ton of left over chicken and pepperoni and we can have that over spaghetti tomorrow night.  Yum!

And to think...I almost went to the store today thinking I didn't have anything for dinner.  

Money spent on food so far in February:  $457.00

Cash taken out of the ATM in February:  $200.00

So far so good.

Day 29

Day 29

It's day 29 of the new 2013 budget and here is the update.  The food situation is working out pretty well.  Again, it is a lot more work, a lot of planning and a lot of self control at the grocery store.  Yesterday I went to the grocery store to pick up a couple of items so that I can use the rest of the ingredients in the refrigerator before the next shopping trip.  The bagger was shocked at how quickly I shopped.  "I just saw you in the parking lot, that was really fast".  When you have a list it really speeds things up.

Money spent on food for the month of January to date:  $788.91

ATM Withdrawls:  $240.00

The goal for food was $650.00 so we passed that number, but it is still almost $250.00 less than our $1025.00 monthly average last year.  The ATM withdrawls are much better.  $360 less than then monthly average last year.  Still room for improvement, but much, much better.  We have enough food for the next two days so that should be it for the food budget for the month.  

I LOVE THE BELLISSIMO ANGELO NECKLACE

I Just Love The Bellissimo Angelo Necklace

From Stella & Dot

I am still sorting through my new Stella & Dot samples but I need to tell you I have already worn more than a handful of times the new Bellissimo Angelo Necklace.  I just love it.

If you like it as much as I do you can buy it on my website.  Follow the page link at the top of the blog.

Order by 9:00 a.m. P.S.T. to receive it in time for Valentine's Day!

Cooking Every Night

Day 23

Okay, okay, I can see that my New Year Resolution is going to use some tweaking (that word always reminds me of that movie You've Got Mail).  We have leftovers coming out of our ears.  I planned way too many meals or cooked way too much for the week.  The menu I first started out with was:

Sunday:  Minestrone soup

Monday:  Beef Stroganoff

Tuesday:  Chicken Cacciatore

Wednesday: chili

Thursday:  leftovers

Friday:  Baked Potatoes

Saturday:  Spaghetti and Meatballs

There is still minestrone soup leftover and now there is quite a bit of chicken cacciatore left over as well.  Thursdays leftovers is now going to be Wednesday AND Thursday leftovers and who knows maybe even Friday's leftovers.  

If anyone has some suggestions as to better meal planning I would be happy to hear it.  One the plus side I haven't spent any more money on food or taken any more cash out and either has my husband.  Hurray.  Maybe we will last until the end of the month with all this food!

I have been getting some inspiration for meal ideas from Allrecipes.  Has anyone ever tried the weekly menu ideas from them?  You need to be a pro-member which I am not.  If you haven't already guessed I am not the best cook in the world.  I really do not enjoy cooking.  I play a lot of tennis and I play on a bunch of USTA teams.  The thing I hate the most is when we have home matches and everyone has to  bring some kind of dish.  All these other women make these delicious dishes and I bring a family size sandwich from Togos.

On an unrelated topic..I am still working on my new samples for my Stella & Dot business.  I ended up sending back four items and exchanging them for others.  As soon as I have all my samples and my new display organized maybe I will post a video.  I will post some photos for sure.

Speaking of tennis...I am on my way out the door now....AND what about that Sloane Stephens last night at the Australian Open.  Pretty exciting stuff for her.

Cutting Down the Food Budget in 2013

Food Budget in 2013

One resolution that we have as a family in 2013 is to cut down on the food budget and the cash spending.  I ran some reports of our spending from 2012 and we average $1,025 a month on food and household cleaning products and another $600 a month in cash withdrawls.  Where that $600 is going...I don't know, but that is $7,200 per year.  Yikes!  That is quite a bit of money.  

I am not going to go crazy and say that we are spending only $100/week for a family of four, because that is just not realistic for us, but I would like to cut it back to about $650 per month on average.  This means more planning.  Planned menus, planned trips to the grocery store, and managing sales.  Coupons?  I don't know, we will see how it goes.  I will definitely do the coupons available on the Safeway card.  That is simple and convenient and now with the app even if you forget to add stuff to the card you can do it while you are at the store.

So how is it going so far?  Well, so far in January we have spent $698 and today is  only the 21st.  We have 10 days to go.  We did go out to dinner once and we had to do some restocking of staples and meat for the freezer.  Like I said it is going to be on average.  There will be some months where more money will be spent.  One thing, however, is that it does take up quite a bit more time.  On Sunday after going to Costco and Safeway and coming home and dividing the meat into bags for the freezer and putting everything away and making a pot of minestrone soup over 4 hours had gone by.

How about the cash?  Only $120 in cash so far this month.  That is a great improvement.  I cannot help but think that a lot of that cash was spent on food as well.

Here is the dinner menu for the week:

Sunday:  Minestrone soup

Monday:  Beef Stroganoff

Tuesday:  Chicken Cacciatore

Wednesday: chili

Thursday:  leftovers

Friday:  Baked Potatoes

Saturday:  Spaghetti and Meatballs

We need to stick to it.  I am sick and tired of wasting money.

First StyleMint Order Arrived

My First StyleMint Order Arrived

So excited about my first StyleMint order.  I received two shirts for $29.99 +  Tax.  I have always thought it was difficult to find cute knit shirts.  They are either WAY expensive or WAY cheap.  I heard about StyleMint and I think the Olsen twins have a great easy sense of style so I gave it a try. I also think that the shirts will look great with my Stella & Dot jewelry!  

 Cute packaging!

Green Shark Bite Shirt

Medina Necklace and Moondance and Rhea Bangles

Pippa and Demi Necklaces and Pippa Earrings

Zoe Lariat Necklace

Snake Orb Necklace

Needless to say I am very pleased with my purchases.  I am cannot wait until next month!  Plus...the new Stella & Dot Spring line just came out.  My samples should arrive tomorrow.  There are some great pieces that would look fabulous with these shirts.  Cannot wait to start styling.