Live like no one else

    Lately our family has been trying to penny pinch in every way we could think of. From our food shopping, to getting temporary furniture for our new little apartment and even our entertainment.
 I do consider myself as a frugal person. I like to shop used and bargain hunt for everything. Even when I was younger if I got an allowance for clothing I would have to look in every store to see which one gave me more for my money, it drove my family nuts. My husband and I have a goal to buy a house in the next year and to have 0 debt and to be working toward paying off the house as soon as possible. I believe if you have a dream the only one to get you there is you, so go out there and work hard for it. One of my favorite quotes is from Dave Ramsey  "Live like no one else so Later you can live like no one else". We as a society believe that its normal to have car payments, credit card debt and to buy things with money we don't have. I am guilty of this too, I have been normal like everyone else. That is changing, I want to be weird if you call it and live below my means so that I can live like no one else later.
             
                        Here are some of the things we have done to cut back and save...

              * Furniture We came here with pretty much nothing its all in CO in a storage unit. and most of it we sold at a yard sale. So we wanted some furniture to sit on and put our TV up. We searched on  Craigslist, in the FREE section... We found a free entertainment center, its made of solid wood and I will eventually sand and paint it. We also found a couch for $20 a nice clean one, came from a smoke and pet free home.
We got a computer desk for FREE it was a little rickety but my hubby just tightened the screws. I added picture of them at the bottom of the page. Nothing fancy but they get the job done.


           *The Food budget, I think that the food budget is what is the money sucker for most people and they don't even know it.
The monthly budget it suppose to be $100 per person in your family so mine would be $400 a month which is hard but doable. We have taken that a little further my goal was to do 300 a month for our family of 4 including toiletries and diapers. I have been doing pretty good so far I divided it up for the month of August which gave me $60 a week to buy everything. I make a menu and shop for the things I need. then prep everything Saturday for the rest of that week and I have been staying on track!!


          * Entertainment
 I have two boys an almost 4 year old and a 2 year old so being in a little apartment can make everyone go a little crazy. So we every week try to do things that don't cost money like going to the library. Even the mall get to be in ace and get exercises, most malls have a kid play area which is where we hang out and I usually bring pb&j sandwiches. Barns and noble have story time we go to and they do a craft with the kids. There are plenty of things to do that a little to zero amount of money. I just found out today that chick fil a does build your own ice cream for kids for free.

Excuse the mess! Entertainment center.

Free computer desk

A $20 couch Id say we did pretty good!

Easy Simple Treat

I tired this recipe for the first time on July 4th, My kids liked it but My husband loved it the most. He is my sweet tooth of the family..

Jello Popcorn

I used Raspberry jello, it was crunchy and chewy, my kind of snack.

10 cups of popcorn
1 cup of butter
3/4 cup of sugar
1 (3oz pk of jello)
1 TB corn syrup
1 TB water
preheat 300
 grease a sheet pan
Cook popcorn put in bowl
mix other ingredients in a pan and simmer until it 250 degrees
pour over popcorn and mix then pour on baking sheet and bake for 5 min.

Just eat really food!

I have been trying to make sure I get really food in to my families diet, like everyone else is and its much easier then I thought. I plan ahead the meals then buy all the ingredient. It taste so much better then all then frozen and store bought crap. Here is my first time making hummus!

Its zesty garlic hummus and its so good! I wasn't a fan of the store bought stuff but I gave it another try and made it homemade so much better I couldn't stop eating it. We had it for lunch after playing at the water park with some carrot sticks and homemade tortilla chips!
Just need a food processor
2 cans of chick peas
garlic
salt
pepper
lemon juice
hot sauce (optional)
Cayenne pepper

Chicken Garlic Pizza

Easy chicken and garlic pizza. Whole wheat crust and white garlic sauce.

Its way cheaper to make your own then to order out or frozen pizza, not to mention a lot more healthier!

I did the basic crust recipe with warm water and yeast. Oil, sugar and half white flour and half wheat flour, makes it much more filling.

then had shredded chicken diced tomatoes and onions. 

The sauce:

 ranch dressing and garlic. Super easy and a big thumbs up from the crew!

                                     Baked at 400 for about 15 min just keep an eye out.

If only we all knew..

I just got done reading this book.

I would recommend it to everyone. It really put things into perspective for me and usually I have a hard time understanding most things I read. My reading comprehension isn't very good especially when it comes to learning assets and liabilities. This book is all about STANDING OUT FROM THE CROWD. Do your own thinking and detest the words, "we have to do it this way because that's the way everyone else does it." Most of this is like what Dave Ramsey teaches. Dave Ramsey is the man, I love all his books and I listen to his podcast.
Most of what Robert  T. Kiyosaki Teaches is how people learn to work for money ... but never learn to have money work for them. Its not some crazy book that will teach you to get rich fast. It teaches to not go through life as a donkey with a carrot hanging on a string in front, going where ever the master (boss, society) wants you to just so you can have that carrot, that satisfies you temporarily waiting until he puts another one in front.