This week spent $99.97 on out to eat
$102.80 on groceries
Total of $202.77
What went well?
- One morning we got up early and took two cars to Walmart. Charlie went with me to Walmart because the kids were fussy and we need a lot of stuff. He kept track of how much we were buying and our goal was $70 for groceries (this included $24 formula). We did not have a calculator and ended up spending $71.67. Charlie is very accurate...I was impressed.
- We never went to a restaurant where we had to pay a waitress fee.
- Knowing I would be writing a blog post about how I am doing kept me motivated not to overspend too much.
- I bought $15 worth of candy.
- We went to way to many fast food places (even though they were all $10 for dinners and $5 for lunches).
- Took out money for the fair and have no idea where exactly that money went.
Revising The Cleaning Schedule
I have found making a cleaning schedule some things have worked and other things have not worked. So I have revised is based on what is realistic for us.
Week A Weeks have specific chores every day and Week B has different chores on that same day. You really do not need to vacuum every week in my opinion.
Mondays: Our laundry all day
Tuesdays: Kids Laundry all day
Wednesdays: Week A: Clean All hardwood floors clean bathrooms. Week B Clean tubs/organize bathrooms. Wednesday is clean the bathrooms day
Thursdays: Week A: Clean kitchen Week B: Dust kitchen and living room. Thursday is mainly clean the kitchen day
Friday: Week A: Vacuum the entire house (takes 30 minutes) Week B: Dust the kids room and our room clean rooms. Friday is clean up all the rooms day.
Saturday: Week A: Organize and clean the inside of the house (closets especially) Figure out what need to be given away. Week B: Clean out cars, clean outside Or just catch up on whatever I have not gotten done during the week.
I only do laundry two days a week so I do not feel like my entire weeks are spent washing clothes. I also have figured out that on the days I do laundry it is impossible to find time to clean so this is why this schedule is working for us. What about you? How do you keep your house clean?
Also you can click here to see different weekly schedules for a friend of mine who went to my youth group. She has four little ones under the age of five (I think), and I am pretty sure she still homeschools all of them . She is very inspirational!
4 comments:
In my opinion you clean too much. I'm not a very good housekeeper.
As far as your out to eat/grocery challenge, can you eliminate one out to eat trip a week? Start out small and then maybe eliminate all lunches out and just eat supper out a couple times a week.
Also, do you plan your menus ahead of time? I plan our supper menu for two weeks. My family makes a trip to Walmart every two weeks where we buy only what is needed to make the dinners, some snack items, and cleaning supplies. Everything we need is written on the list and we stick to only what is on the list. Sometimes we end up going during the week for items that got left off the list,which can be a little frustrating. I go to the grocery store once a week for fruit, milk, and bread. One thing that really helps us is to plan several meals that will make enough for two suppers (ex. lasagna). It helps if you don't have to cook every night of the week. I also make sure I make enough so that I have lunch the next day.
We live by generics. Only buy the name brand if it is better. That usually only happens if the name brand is on a good sale and you have coupons.
Watch the sales and use your coupons to get deals on frozen pizzas, microwaveable dinners, etc. Convenience foods are nice for lunches and when you don't feel like cooking.
We try to keep our Walmart bill to about $120 dollars a every two weeks, which we can usually do and the grocery bill to around $30 a week. We spend more if there is a good sale. The one thing I'm trying to do is keep all the Walmart and grocery store receipts for the month and add them up to see how much we really spend. Those side trips to the store can really get you. I'm also relatively new to coupons so I'm trying to learn what the best sale price is and keep up with clipping and organizing my coupons.
I meant only buy the name brand if it is cheaper than the generic. In my experience, about 98% of the generic food tastes the exact same as the name brand.
Thanks for talking about your grocery/out to eat bill. It helps to know I'm not the only person that finds it difficult to stick to a budget and change spending habits.
Hi Emily! My name is Jennifer, and I work for a PR agency. I’m trying to find your email address so that I can contact you regarding a special opportunity on behalf of one of my clients. Could you please send me your email address? Thanks so much!
Brooke-
Thanks for your comments. I do not clean a lot and so this schedule will hopefully get my house somewhat clean...not sure if that is possible with two babies 3 and under. I do plan out meals and that has been helping. Thanks again for all your great advice.
emilywallace80@hotmail.com
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