update

We made our move to Florida, we have been here officially for two days now.  The first day we spent what seemed like endless hours unloading the Uhaul truck we drove here into storage and our friends home.  I hope to be up and running so to speak again in the next few days!!!! 

Sharing an announcement on Sunday

Well I hope everyone will still follow along, but there will probably be some silence for the next two weeks.  Our family has decided to relocate to Florida and some key pieces have fallen into place and it will be a fast move that will take place right after Christmas.  I had some more blogs planned to share some of the homemade stuff we had done etc as gifts, but I am afraid that to move all of us so quickly there probably won't be alot of time for posting.  I thank each of you who follow along and I hope to keep you updated. 

Thank you to a special reader who sent me a very special gift in the mail.  I love it! You are so talented.

So as far as frugality goes, we will be eating from the pantry and freezer stash I built. While I will take dry and canned goods, I probably won't take frozen things.  So absolutely no grocery shopping with the exception of maybe some bottled water for travel.  We will give away whatever we can't eat I suppose unless we can find a way to take it..... 

The only other frugal thing I have going on is that since we are making this move and I work for Uhaul I was able to do alot of research and digging to get a great rate from another company that we can price match and we will have to pay very little compared to the normal cost for our moving truck.  We leave in 13 days.  Please pray for us.  There is alot to do but I will follow the Flylady philosophy of not taking or moving it if I don't love it and it doesn't make me smile.  I am sorry I have no pics to post....much love to you all and Merry Christmas. 

Tips and Tricks Tuesday

I am linking up once again to keep myself accountable.  I did weigh in....

And I have joined Kristin J in a Healthy Holiday Challenge.  For sixty days I have committed to drinking one nutritional shake a day and exercising to a Beachbody program.  I chose this one.

It has only been two days since the challenge started but so far I have kept my commitment.  You gotta start somewhere right. I hope this group will be what I need as far as accountability and support for the time being.  It was so much easier for me before when I had a partner to work out with almost every day, but that ended many months ago.

I have also committed to myself to write down each day one thing I am thankful for. I am also each day going to write down one victory...whether it is I said no to dessert, or a soda or something like that. Each week to do something just to pamper myself too....something non food related because it so easy to reward yourself with a sweet treat.  This week I gave myself an in home manicure.

I will begin sharing next week the thankfulness and other small victories.  What is everyone else doing to be the healthiest you that you can be?

Sharing ways we save

Happy Sunday everybody!  Today brought some unexpected challenges for our family  but we have embraced it and found some ways to deal with the situation creatively.

Anyway, this week we.....

* made homemade dog food......I have been mixing it with the kibble I bought a couple weeks ago in an effort to make it last longer.  Dog and outside cat love it!!!  (made it using things we already had in the pantry and freezer)

* I saved 26.00 using coupons and store sales at Food Lion for our groceries, I have set a goal not to have to go to the store till after Christmas, we will see how we do.

* We made homemade playdough as Christmas gifts, and gave some away as a birthday gift for a last minute party we were invited to. 

I packaged it in frosting containers using empty fruit cups, and I also used peanut butter jars and sandwich bags for the the other three packages we made that we will give away at Christmas.

* I made peanut butter blossoms from scratch

* We made 16 bags of homemade microwave popcorn to give as gifts with store purchased seasoning

* Kmart gave 4.00 in free points just for being a member in 2013 so I used it to purchase toilet paper

* A family friend treated me and my daughter to a Panera lunch and I used my birthday reward from them to get a free Cinnamon Crunch Scone that we split with our friend

*  We accepted two new kittens (4 months old) into our home ( I know not frugal) but the lady gave us absolutely everything we will need for them, it was nice quality stuff too including the litter system, a cat tower, scratching pole food and toys so no out of pocket cost any time soon and I can get them spayed inexpensively through  our states Department of Ag program.  Our son lost his cat ealier this fall, and we had said no more...but our will was weak.

*Accepted a family size griddle that another family was getting rid of.

*The best entertainment we had this week was brought to us buy our weather...it didn't last long, but we had fun while it did.....

Yep it snowed, I played in it with the kids for maybe 15 minutes...we made snowballs out of what fell and had a ton of fun and made some memories.

It's Tips and Tricks Tuesday

I have not linked up in over a month, but I sucked it up, and am back on the taking care of me band wagon.  I have been having some pretty serious stomach issues, so much so that I have been very discouraged and struggling a little with depression etc.  Anyway, I have made a doctors appointment to see if this is just gastritis again or something more serious.  These days so many people are ill, and I am so worried that it is something more serious.  But enough about worry......

So the last time I weighed myself was 27 days ago....here is the damage

I lost a little of the 4 pds I had gained before.  I plan to be joining up with a beachbody challenge in the upcoming weeks.  There will be more details to come soon.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Tuesday.

Sharing ways we save on Sunday

My frugality this week was weak.  We had 120.00 in unplanned expenses with no savings to cover.  Despite my budgeting efforts over the spring/summer etc, I was not successful in planning for everything.  While we did better this year then what we have in the past, it just wasn't good enough with reduced calls for hubs/hours for me. Now we learn our lesson and do better and revamp our plans as we go.

What I did successfully do this week was:

*Make brownies from scratch for the very first time

*My son made homemade dog treats while I supervised (our dog loved them)

* I got a free 8 by 10 photo from Walmart I let my husband choose the print and he chose a couples shot from our homemade photo shoot

*  We celebrated Thanksgiving with a free meal served by a local restaurant

* I was treated to a birthday dinner with my family at Texas Roadhouse and if you have registered for their emails online they send you a free appetizer coupon for joining and for your birthday.  I got a free Cactus Blossom

* The leftovers from the birthday dinner turned into lunch for us at work another day

*I redeemed some Kellog's reward points for a free Disney Digital book to read with my daughter

*  And last but not least, my Uncle got married Friday night

We celebrated with them and had dinner along with desert for free.  As a special gift for the groom I gave him a pin that had been my mother's (his sister) and he wore it so proudly in the center of his tie for all to see.  She had also married my father in the church that my Uncle got married in.  It was a great night!

How was your week?