Welcome to the weekly Spend-Freeze
update. On February 1st 2016 I posted what a Spend-Freeze is
all about. I outlined the rules we will strictly follow for the rest of
the month. The purpose is to stop our needless spending and save
money.
Week three
This week we're running out of
many things. Important things. We're low on toilet paper, ketchup and eggs. We've run out of apples, celery, lettuce and
broccoli. When we're nearing the end of a jar (mayo, yogurt, peanut butter, etc.) we're sure to use a spatula and scrape out every last drop. This week I also cut open a plastic face cream container and toothpaste tube to get to the very last bits of each.
My eldest daughter, Brooklynn, had her night light break. My husband, Jon, had the idea of plugging in the iPod in her room. He set it to "night light" for her. She liked the idea. I walked three times for errand this week to save gas. I was really proud of myself as this week was very cold. The warmest day was -15 C (or 5 F). As I stated last week, we ran out of garbage can liners (I re-purpose store bags). We went on a scavenge hunt through our house and found a few bags. I also used the plastic from my daughter's diaper package to line the garbage can.
My eldest daughter, Brooklynn, had her night light break. My husband, Jon, had the idea of plugging in the iPod in her room. He set it to "night light" for her. She liked the idea. I walked three times for errand this week to save gas. I was really proud of myself as this week was very cold. The warmest day was -15 C (or 5 F). As I stated last week, we ran out of garbage can liners (I re-purpose store bags). We went on a scavenge hunt through our house and found a few bags. I also used the plastic from my daughter's diaper package to line the garbage can.
This week we had another birthday to celebrate. It was Jon's sister. We thought of creating something for her
birthday. It is harder to think of gift ideas
for adults than for children. There was also the
constraint of her having to fit our gift on the plane home. So we decided to give her "an
experience". My daughter Brooklynn
has wanted to host a tea party for many months.
I'd previously bought fancy bone china tea cups from a local charity
shop. We used the fancy tea cups, white
table cloth and birthday decorations to create a tea party fit for a
queen! A birthday queen.
Brooklynn and I worked hard making cookies and cakes for the party using ingredients from our pantry.
We invited Grandma, Grandpa, Aunty (the birthday girl), Daddy and Brother to the party. Brooklynn selected a tea cup for each and had a selection of teas for them to choose from.
Everyone enjoyed the cookie decorating activity. It was a very fun party! We will definitely do that again.
Brooklynn and I worked hard making cookies and cakes for the party using ingredients from our pantry.
We invited Grandma, Grandpa, Aunty (the birthday girl), Daddy and Brother to the party. Brooklynn selected a tea cup for each and had a selection of teas for them to choose from.
Everyone enjoyed the cookie decorating activity. It was a very fun party! We will definitely do that again.
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| A happy tea party goer. |
Food
We're having to get creative now! Our food supply is dwindling, but I'm still excited to finish out the month and see what we can come up with.
Monday - Pork Loin with cubed Potatoes and Butternut Squash
Tuesday - Pizza topped with leftover Bacon and Ham
Wednesday - Chicken noodle soup (using leftover chicken
bones)
Thursday - Fried leftover Ham and Potatoes with Broccoli
Friday - Homemade Macaroni with leftover Ham (Pickles and
Carrot sticks for veg)
Saturday - Beef Stew
Sunday - Pork roast and Scalloped Potatoes with Canned Corn
and Green Beans
I received a comment from Megan asking what we do for
breakfast and lunch. Those meals haven't
changed from what we ate previous to the Spend-Freeze which is why I didn't
include them in our list. We eat from
our pantry fairly regularly - not just when we're on a
Spend-Freeze. I think our pantry may be
larger than average. I'm planning a post
in March outlining what I purchase and how I organize our pantry. But if you too are curious as to what we've been
eating, here is what we do:
Breakfast
Most often we eat homemade granola cereal for breakfast (click here for that recipe). Sometimes
we'll have oatmeal, yogurt or peanut butter on toast. I also like to have a protein shake for
breakfast. I am able to make everything
using ingredients from our pantry. The
milk, yogurt and bananas (Which I use in my protein shake) are on
our "allowed" list for weekly groceries.
Lunch
Our lunches are usually a mixture of leftovers and
sandwiches. I try to cook more food than
we will eat at supper time so we will have leftovers. I've heard it called "makeovers"
when you purposely make leftovers.
Chicken and mashed potatoes the night before becomes a chicken sandwich
with some fried potatoes at lunch time.
The only tricky part that comes with the Spend-Freeze is replacing some
of the those sandwich staples (tomato and lettuce) with foods that come from
our pantry. Our solution: pickles!!
They add crunch, juicy texture and deliciousness! Sometimes I'll make
macaroni and cheese (click here for that recipe) from the items in our
pantry and milk that we're allowed to purchase.
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| Brooklynn's school lunch |
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| Sandwich with pickles. Yum! |
A Surprise
My husband has a great benefit plan through work. Really really great. If you have benefits through work, you likely have prescriptions and some medical procedures covered. As do we. My husband has an additional "Health Spending
Account". The purpose of this benefit is to encourage the purchase and use of items that will prevent the
need for prescriptions and medical procedures.
It covers things like vitamins, exercise equipment, sports team fees,
etc. Taxes and all! Jon found out this
month that he still had money left in the account and needed to spend it before
the end of this month! His benefits year
ends on the last day of February. Any
unused money simply disappears. It
doesn't carry over into the next benefits year.
So. We needed to spend money to
save money. Crazy!! We decided to buy some 35 lb plates for bench press,
free-weights (hand held weights pictured below), protein powder and protein bars. My husband picked up his old weight training
bar from his parent's house and has set it up in the basement. We're rearranging things (our junk!) to
create a nice little workout area down there.
I love doing workout videos so we'll be moving the kids small tv (which
they rarely use) down there too. Such a
fun little surprise and change of focus on our Spend-Freeze month.
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| Freebies |
Cheating
This month there was definitely a cheat. By Jon.
Not me. That's right. I'm
throwing him under the bus! He said
he found some change in his pocket so it didn't count towards our
Spend-Freeze. He went with Brooklynn to
the dollar store and bought her a new nightlight (hers had broken) and a bag of
chips. A small cheat. But still.
A cheat! Boo!!
We are Rich
We are currently running out of ketchup. I told my son not to take too much since it
was all we have (there is no more in the pantry). My son said it made him feel poor to have so
little ketchup. That is when Jon and I
had to remind him that we are so rich!
We have a warm house. We have
food in our bellies. We can freely
attend church without persecution or risk.
We live in a safe neighbourhood and have a home filled with furniture
and clothes and toys. We are rich! It's easy to be focused on what we don't have. There are a ton of things we don't have. A
store full! It's harder to see and
appreciate what we do have. Only when you take away the ability to acquire
more can you truly understand how much you have. I think sometimes that is the trick that
Satan likes to play on us. He likes us
to be discontent. He likes us wanting
more and more things. It takes our focus
off the important things: family, friends,
others, and God. If we can keep our focus on what's truly
important, we will never suffer discontentment.
This is our second Spend-Freeze. And just like our first, we reap so many
benefits. More than just saving
money. It gives us clarity of
vision. A step back from consumerism and
a step towards people and God. I love
it! And highly recommend a Spend-Freeze
to everyone. Especially you. *smile*
Happy thoughts,
Andrea
Please leave any questions/comments below
Andrea, you are my hero. :)
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about how you guys saved during February ! It was very insightful. My favorite part was just the realization of how rich we truly are in our world compared to so many. It's a great lesson for all of us, but especially cool for our kids to learn early on in life. Congrats on making it through your second spend freeze!!!