why we've abandoned the drive thru window

towards the end of the year last year i had this genius, well maybe more of a light bulb moment. and its not even really a light bulb more. more of a wham to the face when i started playing around with our new budgeting feature on our banking app. we were spending on average $300-$400 a month on eating out. yes! you read that right. and to be honest, it wasn't going to one of those black tie kind of places either. it includes every kind of dining establishment that can swipe that card. eesh. i about lost my mind.  that's two car payments y'all if you're playing it right.  like what the what?!

quick & easy hair ties

I don't know about you, but i am one of those people who can't keep up with hair ties to save my life. and having a cat who is a kleptomaniac doesn't help my situation either. i've been making these for some time now because their so easy & inexpensive. so now i have a plethora of them stashed away for those days when i reach into my bathroom drawer and its sad and empty of all those hair ties that i had just purchased days before.  plus these guys don't eat your hair like those elastic goody-goody kind.

crockpot pulled pork sandwiches

while many people out there still find being a stay at home mom as something glorious, there's days i can agree with them. not having to wear a bra to work is basically all i've got. because i mean my boss screams this horrible high pitched squeal that would make a deaf person's ears bleed. & here recently we've decided that getting up wayyyyyy before anything cool is happening in the world. unless you consider starbucks or walmart a happening place at 6am.

and while i had planned to make taco salads for dinner yesterday, life took over when i opened the fridge and realized, holy crap, i have two pork roasts just sitting in there, waiting to be eaten. well cooked then eaten.  so at that exact moment (well after realizing i needed to cook it before my hamburger buns molded), dinner had been redecided to pulled pork sandwiches. and if i get off on any wild tangents please forgive me....its been a cup of coffee & sweet tea & dr pepper kind of day.

i stumbled across the idea while walking through winco looking for silk almondmilk coffee creamer a few months ago & while the lady heard me talking to myself looking for the creamer we got onto the conversation of pork roasts after she heard me previously talking to my mom on the phone about all the things i could do with a pork roast. still with me? or did i lose anyone back at silk almondmilk coffee creamer? which by the way, they do not carry at this moment. sad day, it really is, because then thats another stop which yeahhhhhhh....the generous winco employee (should have gotten her name!) introduced me to winco's pulled pork seasoning over in the bulk department, which i'm pretty sure is my favorite department of that place.  so some seasoning, a pork roast, buns and few other items & dinner was a go!

pulled pork sandwichs - crockpot style 

1 - 3 pound (or so) pork roast
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 ounces pulled pork seasoning - (bulk department with all the other seasonings)
Hawaiian hambuger buns (any bun is fine, but they were mighty tasty on these)
BBQ sauce, optional
Sliced Pickles, optional

Place pork roast in crockpot.

Mix together brown sugar, ketchup, vinegar & seasoning in a small bowl.  Pour oven pork roast.

Cook on low for 7 hours.  Shred roast with forks one hour prior to eating. Continue cooking in sauce for another hour.

Serve on bun with BBQ sauce & pickles if desired.

& want to keep it crazy budget friendly, serve that on sandwich bread & save yourself the cost of buns..  i got TWO pork roasts from winco for $5 and some change.. #winning one roast fixed enough for 6 sandwiches for dinner last night (we were hungry, what can i say?!), 2 sandwiches for hubs lunch today & then another small container for my lunch probably tomorrow. like it doesn't get better than that.

here's to more winco winning y'all. you can also find their recipe here.

peanut butter balls

here lately i've made it my mission to make something sweet to keep in the house so we aren't tempted to go out for a quick treat - frugal mom at it again.  and luckily i haven't heard any complaints on this.

whether its cookies or brownies, i've put a few minutes aside to keep something around to stifle off those sweet tooth's.  this weeke i'm hooping to make some mini vanilla bundt cakes, but with our little family weekend trip coming up, it may or may not happen. who knows, maybe they'll end up being a road trip treat.

my brother's wife and kids introduced me to the heavenly treat in the photos a few times before, but my little sweet tooth recently had a hankering again for these.. i mean its only been a couple of weeks since i have had one.  and before you convince yourself that they are too complicated to make, just keep reading, because they're the total opposite of that..

peanut butter balls:

• 1 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened (i liteally just scooped margarine straight from the container for this & they turned out perfect... impatient much???!
• chocolate chips, for dipping

Stir together powdered sugar, peanut butter & butter/margarine together until thoroughly combined.

Shape peanut butter mixture into balls, placing them onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  This gets messy, so prepare your hands for it.   I made my balls varying sizes, so Ben could have a little one & still think hes getting a lot.

Place cookie sheet in freezer or refrigerator for about 30 minutes so they are good & hard - makes the dipping process much easier.

Once balls are chilled, put chocolate chip into a microwave safe bowl for melting.  Microwave for 30 seconds and stir, repeating until chocolate is melted.

Drop one ball at a time into the chocolate & using a fork coat the ball.  Remove the ball with the fork (letting excess chocolate drip off) & place back on cookie sheet.  While the chocolate is still wet, you can decorate with sprinkles, crushed peanuts, etc if you'd like.  Repeat dipping process for all the balls.

Store in refrigerator until serving.. Enjoy.

my tried & true methods to making one income work...

part of my life as a stay at home mom is managing how all our money goes out.  and while saving money may seem to be these crazy easy thing to do, it really does amaze me (as well as most others) how quickly it can disappear.

since becoming a sahm 3 years ago, i have always been looking for ways to scrimp here & save there. and while it does take a little practice, it does add up. over time, you find tricks, secrets & shortcuts -and i feel pretty dang proud when they happen.

so i figured i would do a little post on some ways that i save, scrimp & basically make a little seem like a lot without feeling like you're completely poor.

1. cut the cord with your cable company.  this has to be one of our biggest money savers.  we always had cable of some kind, but i found us watching only a handful of channels. so when i quit working completely, we also quit cable.  its been almost 2 years of no cable - we instead subscribed to hulu, netflix & bought an HD antenna for our news & local stuff.  cable was costing us $150 a month!!! now we pay about $20 for both streaming services.  savings $130 a month

2. assess your electric bill. i recently was looking over our electric usage to determine how to save some money without sitting in the dark all day... i realized we werent in a contract! make sure your account is on a fixed plan rather than a variable plan. yes this requires a term commitment but if you have a place to live, you need electricity. we were previously paying up 15.4 cents per KWH & after assessing we are down to the max of 9.2 cents and free weekends! going off our previous bill and usage, we would have saved $25 being on a fixed plan.. 

3. stop eating out & meal plan.  i stress this to most of my friends (or family) who ask how do you manage xyz. i meal plan.i take a few minutes during naptime (preferrably) before pay and make a plan.  i assess what i still have & make meals from that & then schedule out my 2 week of meals - we're paid bi-weekly, so i plan 14 dinners approx, weekend lunches & weekend breakfasts for 3 of us.. weekend breakfasts are usually easy: cereal, cinnamon rolls, eggs or something else thats quick - pancakes are usually a dinner meal during the course of 14 days so i try not to burn anyone out by making them for breakfast... however if i have leftovers i put them in a bag for the fridge and reheat as a breakfast for ben during the week.  

back from my tangent.....  if you need meal planning help, reach out to me, seriously.  im always searching for new ideas, while keeping fan favorites in the rotation.  you dont need fancy software or anything crazy to meal plan.. paper & pen.   

once i've meal planned, i make my grocery list.  this will keep you from eating out because "you have no idea whats for dinner"  - we eat out mayyybe 2 or 3 times & its usually something quick, easy & affordable.. unless its a special occasion.  we used to be really bad about eating out.. and now we only use that option if we've been busy & cooking is just not in the cards or we find ourselves out for the day. & even then, something, easy & affordable. 

4. rent a movie.. sounds kind of like an oxymoron to saving money.  but instead of going out & doing, we stay in, make food & rent a movie.. its $5 at most & usually have a good amount of time to watch, unless you redbox, but then its $2 for 24 hours... we love fandangonow since we stream right to our tv & have viewing abilities for 48 hours.. another perk? you get points for renting towards coupons for free or cheap rentals.   

while some of these ideas seem very redundant, its because they are tried and true methods... hopefully, they will help you too, if you're looking to save some money here and there. 

this blogging thing seems sparse, but i hope to take this blog in a few new directions in the future - including a meal planning series (& a few other ideas, that i'm still piecing together) - tonight we're making baked chicken tacos with rice & then sugar cookies for dessert (that we made earlier this morning!)  i'll be sure to share those recipes in the coming days. 

happy tuesday! 

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coffee filter wreath

have you heard that season 2 of fixer upper is on netflix? binge watched all the episodes yet? I haven't gotten through all of them, but watched enough to get my project list to grow by a few more items.  one of these days, I will make my way down south to visit magnolia farms for a little retail therapy.  or retail wishing & dreaming.