Day 9 #31daysLWSZ- cleaning the house

We are now starting the second phase of our challenge which is cleaning your house. To start out we had to get rid of the clutter to get ready for the big cleaning. I was so motivated that my house looks pretty good and not cluttered. I filled my laundry basket full. It was a very successful and motivating day.

Here is some cleaning tips that has always helped me and keep me motivated:
1) Play some music or a podcast
    Some of my favorites is listening to old school 
    Christian music on You Tube
    I also like to listen to Lecrae also on You Tube
    Here is also some of my favorite podcasts

2) Start with one room and gather things up and
    put it in one pile- stick to the room until done (that's hard for me but its works)
    I do really like Ruth's idea of carrying a laundry basket too and filling it up

3) If you have stairs to climb, leave things at the bottom of the stairs so that when you go upstairs you can take them with you instead of going up and down the stairs. (Maybe that's just me because once I start cleaning I can get sporadic and leave a room to go and start another even if the other room is not done lol)

4) Its ok to have a junk drawer
    for those random odds and ends : )

5) Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but sometimes I take a 20 min break and watch a 20 min show on Netflix to remotivate myself.
    like today, I took a 20 min break and watched 30 Rock and then got right back to cleaning again

These are only a few ideas that helped me out today for a simple clutter clean up task like yesterday.

Day 8 #31dayLWSZ- Reflection

I am going to answer some questions Ruth challenged us to answer for the challenge.

What was the SCARIEST part of starting this challenge?
I was afraid that I was not going to have enough food. Yes I did go shopping for some food on the first day but it was really just two types of meat, some produce, and the basic essentials.

What is the ONE thing you are most excited to get out of this challenge?
How to become more creative with meal preparing and how I use my time.

What has been the BIGGEST struggle this week?
My pride. I went into it thinking that I was ahead of everyone else since my hubbie and I already have a strict budget as it is, but I realize that there are things that I still need to work out concerning things with being a mom who lives well and spends less : )

Where were you most tempted (or where did you) CHEAT?
I was tempted to go out and just find a snack through a Burger King drive through but didn't go. I also have to say that my in-laws have spoiled us a lot because I have eaten out and gotten ice cream without playing a cent : )  

What are you MOST worried about looking forward?
Honestly, I am not sure. Maybe that I don't learn anything : (

Did you have any "AHA" moments?
Yesterday.

What has been the MOST surprising thing about not spending this week?
I don't think there was anything. Just glad I am doing the challenge.

Day 7 #31dayLWSZ- Proverbs 31 Woman

The challenge was freezer meals...lets just say I am not a freezer meal gal. Most of the time, mine have not turned out well. To be honest, I am just plain lazy. I just haven't had much luck with them and for something I am not very excited about, I just don't feel like doing it. It kinda makes me feel guilty because I have always desired to be that wife and mom that comes up with ways to be more resourceful and save some money. I want to start a garden with the .65 acre of land we just recently bought. I want to be able to write to earn money. I want to make meals that my husband would be excited about eating. All of this makes me think of the Proverbs 31 woman.

This challenge has really made me think about her (the Proverbs 31 woman) and what that means to me. There are some days where I am just so lazy and wish that I had more motivation to do something productive. I know I am not the only one who has felt this way. Is this desire based off of her? Or is it being a product of today's society of constantly always having to being doing something or looking at something? What would the Proverbs 31 women look like today? What about grace in all this? Am I expecting perfection or do I need to step it up? Is there more that I can be doing or is God going to show me in His timing and I just need to be still? Yeah lol I am thinking about all of this just from freezer meals : ) I have always been a person who wants to please. How much pleasing does the Proverbs 31 woman do? Does it come naturally because of her character? I know Ruth is not saying we have to do this and if we don't, we are bad. This is just something that I am thinking about and freezer meals got me there.

I believe I just added another goal to this month: to understand the role of the Proverbs 31 woman and what that means to me right now during this 31 days and as a wife and as a mom. 

Day 6 #31daysLWSZ- Hungry Girl

Day five was a very simple day. Eating out is probably one of the hardest thing when it comes to this challenge or even just being on a budget. It is one of the first things that seem to go.
 

Ruth challenged us to eat out at home and gave us many recipes for food from various restaurants. My hubbie and I don't really don't do that too much. It got me thinking of what food I actually miss from restaurants that I like. My mind went straight to Hungry Girl. It is an amazing website that gives you healthier alternatives. She has a email that she sends out what feels like everyday. The details of the emails range from what things or meals to avoid at restaurants to new items you should get at the store.
 

My all time favorite copycat recipe is her orange chicken. Amazing. Instead of frying the chicken after you bread it, you put it in the oven which actually does taste good. The sauce is common Asian ingredients like soy sauce and rice vinegar with orange marmalade. Kinda cool. 

Another recipe I like from her is her spoonable BLT. It is such a simple meal with common ingredients you most likely have in your house. It is exactly what it sounds like. You put turkey bacon (Hungry Girl alternative) for the B, spinach for L, and the tomato soup is the T. She puts diced tomatoes in there, but I am not a fan of that. You then top it off with croutons for the bread. Very simple but very good.

 

The Hungry Girl website also has breakfast in a mug recipes ranging from your basic omelet to a deconstructed sausage mcmuffin.

 

Hungry Girl is a very resourceful website. You should check it out! 

Day 5 #31daysLWSZ- Meal Swap

Yesterday's challenge was something I was not expecting at all but became more and more excited as I learned more about it. Since it was Sunday, we had our periscope meeting at three instead of ten thirty. This just made me so happy that this challenge was led by someone who was Christian that attended church. Before the meeting I read up on our email and found our challenge was meal swapping. I never heard of it before but the basic idea is that you and one or more people get together make some meals and swap them between themselves. Ruth told us at our periscope meeting that it was a time to get together and have fun but also save money on gaining other meals from your friends all the while blessing them too. So for example, if I go over to my friend's house and she invites two other people. That is three meals I get to take home. Kinda cool.

So after periscoping, I went on Facebook and asked four of my friends that I think might want to try this. I found out that one of them already sort of does this every August with her friend and was unable to do it this year. One person. Check. Then I thought of another girl who is going to have her first baby next month and thought she would love to have some meals. She is a maybe! : ) It then made me think of another mom who is also going to have her second little one in November also. It really got me thinking of how the church could do this for pregnant women in their church. A fun time of fellowship while blessing a mom to be. Just a thought : )

Yesterday I also used a can of crab soup that I really never ever thought I would use but I found good use for it. I just added more crab, some milk, and some cornstarch to thicken it up. I then put this sauce on top of noodles and top it off with breadcrumbs and cheese. It was not bad. Kinda salty but thinking next time I could add corn or even put it on toast. I think I will do that today.
I am very happy with this day. I learned a lot but also got me thinking about other people in the process. Kinda like being a Proverbs 31 woman : )    

Day 3 #31daysLWSZ- Blessings and my pantry

Well yesterday was a very good day despite missing the periscope message in the morning. I was able to go out with my mother in law fully wanting to surprise her and pay for the new place I found. She has spoiled my little one and I the past 2 weeks buying us things and taking us out since I had to drive her to her eye appointment since she had her cataracts surgery done. So like I said I wanted to tell her I appreciate her spoiling us. I know that I am not suppose to go out to eat for this month but my mother in law and I planned this a week ago and plus Cyrus and I budget it in our envelopes. Well when we got there, I told her I would pay for it and she said no because she wanted to take us somewhere nice. I told her she did that the past few weeks and we budgeted for it. She still said no. I mean I really wanted to do this but instead she blessed Cyrus and I for being so good with our budgeting. So I got spoiled once again and have not spend anything yet.
Along with the periscope message, I also get an email. My challenge was to go through my pantry and see what we had and organize it. I was excited because I only wrote down what I had but did not organize it. While I was organizing it, I found some cornbread which I did not know I had. I was very excited about that too. Now I cant wait to see what I am going to come up with with all this stuff we now have. That is where the challenge will begin.

Day 4 #31daysLWSZ- humble pie

Wow yesterday was so exhausting and humbling! I was gone all day with my in laws, my hubbie and little one and only got little done on the challenge. The challenge was to come up with a meal plan using only what I had in my pantry and fridge. So before I went out, just as Ruth said, I came up with several meals that I like. I then went after my list of my pantry/fridge and lo and behold I could not find it on my iPad. I looked everywhere and could not find it. Very frustrating especially since I was ahead but now was behind. After I put my little one to bed and took a shower and got into my pjs, I gathered up all the motivation I could to re write my pantry and fridge again. I did it! 

Now I had to come up with a meal plan. I have to say I have never put together a whole month of meals before, and looking at my list, it was kinda defeating. But I kept pressing on. I was so eager to look for recipes with sausage since I found out we had more than I thought. I was also anticipating to use a lot of ground meat since I got a good deal on that. I have found some new recipes that I am excited to try. I am going to share two of them right now. 

 

First the egg roll in a bowl

 

Second the chicken apple sausage pasta 
 

After humbly rewriting what I had in my pantry and fridge and writing out my meal plan, I feel little more confident then I did two hours ago. Yay! Let's bring it on!