How To Pay Less For Groceries

A few weeks ago, while grocery shopping, I overheard a Dad saying to his son: "If milk stays this expensive, you're going to have to start drinking water instead".  All I could think was "people actually pay full price for a gallon of milk"?!  I don't remember the last time I did that.

I want to start off by saying, paying less for groceries does not require a lot of planning on your part; this is not extreme couponing.  It does require a little bit of effort, but it's well worth it.  Here are a few simple steps to saving lots of money on groceries.

Step 1: Price Match!

Each Monday, all the local grocery store ads are delivered in our mailbox (I think there are five of them).  I pull them out, take out a notebook and write down all the prices of items we might purchase.  This step takes about 15 minutes total.  This is also a reason I never pay full price for a gallon of milk; very rarely is there a week that milk is not on sale at a local grocery store.  Price matching is also the best way to get produce for as cheap as possible.

Step 2: Find a Store that will Price Match

I know a lot of people will cringe when I say this, but I do all my grocery shopping at Walmart.  On occasion, we will pick up produce & meats from a store closer to our house, but Walmart seems to be the best bet when it comes to price matching.  AND, we just happen to have a really nice Walmart near our house. In their policy, they state that they will never make you show them the ads that you got your prices from.  You simply tell them you want to price match, you tell them the price of each item (that you wrote down in your notebook) & they enter it into the register.  It's really simple.  In fact, many cashiers will already know the prices of common price matched items because so many people do it.  For example, many people will price match milk for $1.87 each week.  

*On a side note: It seems like women cashiers in their mid-50's tend to question me the most.  No, I'm not cheating the system (and never will), I just know how to get things for cheap.  I've had women cashiers tell me that I couldn't use a coupon in addition to price matching; I know that's not true because I've read their policies (yes, I'm a nerd).  Anyway, over time, I've learned that it's best to find either a male cashier or a younger cashier; they won't question you.  : )

Step 3: Clip Coupons

Again, I'm not telling you to go collect coupons and sort them in binders; this is not extreme couponing.  We have a few coupon ads that come in our weekly paper and I use the website: coupons.com.  I cut out anything and everything that we might consider eating.  We try a lot of new foods this way.  I spend about 10 minutes cutting coupons each week.  I keep them in a bag in the kitchen & pull out the ones I want to use each week.  Last week, I had items that were on sale & I had a coupon for them.  I ended up getting Nature Valley Granola Bars, Eggos & Kraft shredded cheese for $1 each because of this.

Step 4: Plan Meals & Snacks around what is on Sale/What you have a coupon for

If I price matched ground turkey & bell peppers, I know that I can make Turkey chili for dinner this week.  If I have a coupon for a specific type of string cheese, that becomes one of the snacks we have in the house this week.  Of course, you still want to make sure that with a coupon or price match, you're still getting the best deal.  Sometimes, it's still cheaper to buy the "off brand".  This step requires you to be open minded & try new things.  If you're a creature of habit and buy the same things every week, this will be a change for you. 

For our family of four, I spend about $85 a week on grocery shopping.  This includes all ingredients for at least 5 dinners, snacks, fresh produce, lunch items and every day staples (like milk, cheeses & eggs).  How much does your family spend on groceries each week? Leave a comment below!

Saturdays with Daddy: Elijah's First Fort

Saturday, August 2nd

The first Saturday that Dustin took care of them, all by himself...ALL day long!

Elijah Ray: Two Years Old

My sweet Elijah Ray, at two years old, you continue to be a sweet, caring, silly little boy.  Most days, you completely melt my heart and I wonder how we got so lucky to have such a well behaved, happy, content child.

But, that doesn't mean you are perfect.  We still have days where you test every last bit of Mommy's patience.  Days where every bit of your energy is used in yelling "NOOOO!" in response to anything I ask of you.  At the same time, you know when you've done wrong and you show remorse, usually by crying because you feel bad.  You especially don't like to be reprimanded by Daddy or get a timeout in front of other people that you love.

At two years old, you stand three feet tall and weigh 29 pounds.  It just goes to show that plump babies do not necessarily turn into chubby children.  You are long and lean, which is alot like your Daddy was built.

Your favorite foods include rice cakes, any kind of fruit (besides strawberries), pizza, cottage cheese, yogurt, applesauce, crackers, raisins, black olives and cookies. You eat very little meat (maybe it's a texture thing?) and drink a TON of milk.  Some days, you eat a lot and some days, you eat very little.  Mommy and Daddy try to be consistent in not giving you other choices if you don't like what we're eating.

Your favorite activity is still reading.  You could probably sit for hours and read.  You also love to play outside.  When we go to the park, you have more fun running around on the grass than playing on the playground equipment.

You know all of your alphabet letters, both upper and lowercase.  You can identify numbers from 1-10 and you can also count to ten. You know your colors and how to sort.  Your vocabulary expands daily and it often sounds like there is a parrot in the house.  You enjoy naming things you see by saying "I see a_____".  Another phrase that is used quite a bit is: "I'll call ______" (fill in the blank with someone's name).

We love what a good big brother you are.  You love to make Charlotte laugh and just recently, you've begun calling her "Char".  You take interest in your little sister and are always excited to see her, saying "Hi Char, Hi Char".  She is lucky to have you as her brother.

You are very much an introvert and that's ok!  I hate always labeling you as "shy" because it can be such a negative term.  You behave very well in public, for which I'm grateful.  You are aware of people that are not in your "inner circle" and for that, I'm also grateful.

We love the little boy you are becoming.  You are so special and bring us so much joy!  We love you Elijah Ray!

Only in Arizona...

Only in Arizona...do people get this excited about rain!

5 Years!

Ten years ago, he asked me on a date; I said "no".

Six years ago, he called me and asked me if he could take me on that date that we never went on.  This time, I said "yes". 

Six years ago, after going on a date with him, I knew that he was the one I was going to marry.

We proceeded to date long distance.  We only saw each other two times before he bought the ring.  We only saw each other two times before I bought my wedding dress (before he even proposed!).

In February of 2009, he proposed. 

June 26, 2009

1 Year: We celebrated by going to the Melting Pot and by buying a house!

2 Years: I was pregnant and very sick (hence the bands on my wrist).  We celebrated with crab legs & lobster, which I didn't want to look at for a long time after that!

3 Years: We brought home this little guy a day before our 3 year anniversary; that was enough celebration in itself!

4 Years:  We weren't together on the day of our anniversary, but we celebrated with dinner & mini golf while in Wisconsin. We have a one year old & I was about 14 weeks pregnant in this picture!

Here we are, 5 years later with a two year old and a 6 month old.  We celebrated with a night at a resort in Tucson.

I can't wait to see what this next year of marriage holds for us!

An Easy Guide to Making First Foods

One way to save money on baby food is to make your own.  It's SO simple and doesn't require any fancy equipment (ie. the baby bullet), just a blender, a microwave or oven & some ice cube trays.  If you buy your baby food at the grocery store, it will run you about $1 for a couple ounces.  I do most of my grocery shopping at Walmart with price matching and mostly stick to what is on sale.

Apples, peaches & plums were on sale this week, all of which make excellent first foods.  I also bought a sweet potato and a butternut squash because I wanted her to have some veggies too.  I'll cover how to prepare those five foods in this post!

Friendly Reminders

*If you are blending with breast milk, do NOT use previously frozen milk 

*Once prepared, fruits & veggies can stay in freezer for up to 3 months.  Think about that when deciding how much you want to make.

*Have patience. The longer you bake your fruits & veggies, the easier they are to peel and blend.

Apples

Five apples made about 11oz. of food

1. Peel & core apples
2. Chop apples
3. Put in saucepan with just enough water to cover the top of apples
4. Boil until apples feel soft to the touch (mine took about 30 min.)
5. Drain apples
6. Blend with leftover water or milk 
7. Pour into ice cube trays
8. Cover with foil & freeze

Butternut Squash

This squash made 15oz of food

1. Cut squash in half, lengthwise
2. Put 1-2 inches of water in baking dish
3. Place squash flesh-side down in baking dish
4. Bake at 400 degress for about one hour (stick a knife in to test softness)
5. Scoop out flesh and blend with water or milk
6. Put in ice cube trays
7. Cover & freeze

Sweet Potatoes

Tip: Don't go for the largest sweet potato available!  
I did and it took nearly an hour and a half to cook!

1. Poke holes in sweet potato
2. Wrap in foil
3. Bake in oven at 400 degress for about 30-45 minutes.  Use a knife to test for softness.
4. Cut in half and scoop out insides
5. Blend with milk or water
6. Put in ice cube trays
7. Cover & freeze

Plums

Tip: There are many different ways to cook a plum. 
This is the one I used and they were still hard to peel.  
If I made them again, I would boil them for longer!

1. Place plums in a pot of boiling water for 5-10 minutes.  The longer they cook, the easier it is to get the skin off (lesson learned).
2. Once the skin starts to pucker, place them into a bowl of cold water
3. Roll the plums on a hard surface to peel the skin away
4. Cut into small pieces
5. Blend with milk or water
6. Pour into ice cube trays
7. Cover & freeze

Peaches

Tip: Use peaches that are nice & ripe and don't be afraid to cook
 them until they are really soft.  
The skin will come right off, the longer you cook them.

1. Cut peaches in half, remove pit
2. Place peaches flesh side down in a baking pan that contains about an inch of water.
3. Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes, test their softness with a knife.  The softer, the better & easier they are to peel (lesson learned).
4. Remove & discard skin
5. Cut remaining peaches into piece
6. Blend with milk or water
7. Pour into ice cube trays
8. Cover & freeze

It is my hope that someone finds this post helpful.  Making your own baby food is so simple and satisfying; it's really hard to mess up, so don't be afraid!  Once you have your freezer stocked with various fruits and veggies, you can start mixing them together to make delicious meals for your baby.

We're Back!

This is what we do on a Friday night: I blog and eat ice cream, Dustin goes to bed at 9pm.  : )  We live quite exciting lives....
On a side note, our new web address is: evenson4.blogspot.com.  My goal is to update at least once a week (fingers crossed)!

Charlotte Noelle's Birth Story: Part Two

You can read part one of Charlotte's Birth Story here.

We go back to triage, they have me put on a gown and lay on the hospital bed, so they can monitor me for an hour.  After an hour, the nurse looks at the printout of my contractions and says that they aren't regular, but they are strong.  She checks to see how dilated I am and it turns out I'm 5cm. I couldn't believe I had been through all that pain and had only dilated one cm since my appointment earlier in the day.  She decides to call the on call doctor and see what they want to do with me.  All I could think in my head was that I WAS NOT going home.  My doctor happened to be on call that night and she didn't at all seem surprised that I had shown up at the hospital.  Finally, they decide to admit me, I look at Dustin and say, "as soon as we get to our room, I'm getting an epidural".

They tell me to grab my things and follow them to my room.  The walk from triage to my room seemed like the longest walk of my life!  The contractions while walking were quite intense and I was holding the bottom of my stomach because it felt like Charlotte was going to fall right out.  We finally get settled, the nurse starts asking me all the necessary questions and Dustin goes out to the car to get all our things.  By now, it's about 3am, I'm tired and just want to relax, but the contractions were so painful that I was almost to the point of throwing up.  The nurse preps me for the epidural, but we have to wait for the anesthesiologist, who is busy with another patient.  That forty-five minutes of waiting was definitely the worst part of the entire experience.

I finally get my epidural and am checked again for dilation, I'm at 8 cm.  The nurse told me that she thought we'd have our baby before her shift was over at 7am.  I think it was around 6am that I was 10cm.  Unfortunately, the doctor was busy delivering other babies and dealing with emergency situations, so as long as I felt no immediate need to push, they were going to let me sit there for awhile.

My night nurse leaves and another comes in.  I continue to rest and wait for the doctor to come in.  Around 9am, Dr. Warner comes by to break my water, so we can get this baby out.  Dr. Warner leaves again, and I begin pushing at 9:20am.  It was the most relaxed environment.  The tv was on and we were talking in between pushes.  Finally, around 10:30am, I had her turn off my epidural because I wasn't feeling the contractions as much.  Around that time, she called Dr. Warner back in the room.  I couldn't believe I was getting so close to meeting my little girl.  I think the most exciting part is when the doctor and other nurses enter the room because you know you're so close.  And finally, at 11:01am, Charlotte Noelle entered our world.  To push out your own child, without any help, is the most exciting experience (which I didn't get to experience with Elijah).  The doctor and nurses said "she's a big one", but she didn't seem that big to me because Janke babies tend to be over 8lbs.

Charlotte weighed in at 8lbs, 10oz & was 21.5 inches long.  We were & still are so in love with her.  I couldn't have asked for a better birth experience than the one I had.

First picture we sent to family

Mommy & her girl

Daddy snuggles

Glow worm...this was the night from hell!  Those machines are terrible!

Charlotte Noelle's Birth Story: Part One

The first time I saw her, it was like a scene out of a movie.  She came out screaming, hands and legs flailing in the air.  They placed her on me and the first thing that came out of my mouth was "is it still a girl?" Haha...I guess from the time they told me I was having a girl (back in August), I couldn't believe that I was indeed, having a girl!

Rewind to December 18th.  I went in for my 39 week checkup and to my surprise and my doctor's, I was already four centimeters dilated!  My doctor stripped my membranes, told me she wouldn't be surprised if my water broke and sent me on my way.  I remember driving home and thinking "I'm going to have this baby tonight".  And yet, it still felt so surreal, like I wasn't ready for all of this to be happening.

Dustin had gone with me to my doctor's appointment and then went back to work to tie up loose ends, because I think he had a feeling that he wouldn't be at work the next day.

After putting Elijah to bed that night, I started getting everything ready for the hospital.  At the same time, I was trying not to make a big deal out of things because I wasn't having contractions yet.  I didn't want Dustin to think I was crazy, but I had such an internal feeling that we would be going to the hospital that night.

To get my mind off things, I decided to sit in the living room and watch 19 Kids & Counting. Around 8pm, I started having contractions.  So, I quietly sat on the couch and timed them, without letting Dustin know what I was doing.  I don't know why, but I was so concerned about giving off any "false alarms" that I just kinda kept to myself about what was happening.  Eventually, Dustin went to sleep and I stayed awake, while my contractions came and went.

Around 10:30, I started to doze off and had convinced myself that this wasn't the real thing.  My contractions were anywhere from 6 to 13 minutes apart.  But, when they came, they were STRONG!  I was confused because I thought they were supposed to come at regular intervals.  I had no idea what it was like to go into labor on my own because I had been induced with Elijah.

So, I lay in bed until midnight, trying to decide if I should wake Dustin up.  Again, I was so afraid to say anything, just in case this wasn't the real thing.  My contractions were still irregular, but I could hardly stand the pain of them.  I started to calculate the time it would take for Susie to get to our house (about 30 min) and the time it would take for us to get to the hospital (about 40 min).  Then, I started to get scared..I was already 4cm dilated at my appointment and I've already had a bunch of contractions....what if we don't make it to the hospital...I don't want to give birth in my car...so, I finally gave in, woke Dustin and told him to call Susie.

While waiting for Susie to get to our house, Dustin was frantically running around, trying to make sure we had everything.  I was starting to get worried that I had waited too long, as my contractions were coming more frequently.  The only regret I have, is that we didn't get one last picture before heading to the hospital.  I guess when you're in extreme pain, you don't think to stop and take a picture!

We were off to the hospital around 1:00am.  I probably had 5 or 6 contractions on the way to the hospital and one right as we were parking.  I remember sitting in the car and telling Dustin to wait outside the car until my contraction had passed.  So, we walk in and I tell the receptionist "I think I'm in labor, but I'm not really sure"...she probably thought, well, if this lady isn't sure she's in labor, she probably isn't.  But, I continue to check in and head straight to triage.

Where has the time gone?

It turns out that having two children under the age of two at home can be a little time consuming.  I've been wanting to write a blog since Charlotte was born and now three months have flown by and every minute of my day is spent caring for a three month old and a 21 month old.  It's strange how some days feel like an eternity and yet, the months and years fly by.  I am finally feeling a little relief as Charlotte is getting into a good routine & Elijah continues to keep his established routine.

I'm not going to lie, the first 8 weeks were hard!  I felt like I was spending my entire day getting children to nap, changing diapers and calming crying eyes.  And although newborns sleep a lot, it's hard because they have no routine and no predictability!  We all went through a period of adjusting to this new life with a fourth family member in our life and I am happy to say that things are finally getting easier.

I am hoping to get back on the blogging track, as it's something I really enjoy doing.  So, for now, I leave you with a few pictures of this cute duo that I love so very much:

Life at 19 Months

Oh, sweet Elijah, it seems you have officially entered toddler-hood.  A lot has happened to you between 18 & 19 months: 6 new teeth have made their way through your gums (2 more are waiting to pop through), you transitioned yourself from two naps a day down to one, and you became a big brother.  Needless to say, Mom is ready for things to calm down around our house...we've had plenty of changes and transitions between this month and last!

You are a BIG boy!  You weigh approximately 27lbs and are about 34 inches tall!  People often mistake you for being older than you are.

When you aren't teething, you are a very happy, content boy.  You're not jealous of the time I need to spend with Charlotte and you can happily play by yourself.  But, you also have your moments where you demand attention and if you don't get it immediately, you begin to whine.  I know that at this age the world revolves around you and some days, that is very apparent.  : )

You are like a little sponge, constantly learning new things.  It only takes once or twice of showing you something, for you to catch on.  You can correctly point to each object on your flashcards when asked, you know the color blue, the shape of a heart & you are learning how to sort your mega-blocks by colors.

I can no longer eat food in front of you, without you saying "bite" because you HAVE to have a bite of whatever I'm eating.  And then, it's not just one bite that you want, it's bite after bite until you and I have finished what was supposed to be my snack, not yours.  You are pretty willing to try any food.  A few weeks ago, we let you eat a large amount of broccoli because we were just so happy you were eating it.  Never again, unless Dad is home to help change poopy diapers the next day ( I think you had 5 of them that day!).

You can be so silly and you love to make us laugh.  You recently learned how to roll your eyes and will do it repeatedly just to make us laugh.  In fact, you will do anything repeatedly if you noticed someone laugh about what you were doing.

Your only real act of defiance is when you stand on the couch and yell "no" when we tell you to sit down.  We started timeouts, which you're understanding is not a good thing.

You LOVE to play outside and would probably stay out there all day if we let you.  Most of the time, you're not even playing with your toys; you're finding sticks, playing in dirt & trying to get water out of the hose...such a boy!  You also continue to have a love for reading books.  You will sit in your room and pull every book off your shelf and flip through the pages.  You would probably be in heaven if Mom & Dad could read to you non-stop all day long.

You sleep from 7pm-7am and nap from noon-3pm.  You are very easy to put down for bed.  As long as you have a book to read in your crib, you are happy.

You are so lovable and we can't wait to see what month 19 brings!!!!!

We hired a cute guy.....

To paint our house!

Getting some "paint"

Working Hard!

Making sure it looks good!