Menu Plan Monday: February 2nd, 2015

This week we are coming out of a month-long pantry challenge, so needless to say, the food stores are looking a little thin.  I am planning to slowly rebuild our stockpile throughout the next couple of months.  I also have a lot going on with work this week, so I tried to keep the menu simple.  Here's what I have planned for the week...

Breakfasts: Iced Coffee for Me, Granola Bars for Joe

Lunches: Leftovers, Salads, and/or Sandwiches

Dinners:

Sunday - Homemade Pizza

Monday - McDonald's - yummy!

Tuesday - Nachos

Wednesday - Grilled Steak with Sauteed Mushrooms, Crock-pot Baked Potatoes, and a Vegetable

Thursday - Chili's with Joe's Grandfather - his treat!

Friday - Crock-pot Pork Loin with Potatoes, Onions, and Carrots

Saturday - Leftovers

Linked to Org Junkie!

January's Goal Update 2015

January was a very full month.  I felt like I was constantly on the go and spent very little time sitting.  I had a crap-ton of stuff to do for work, and the time that was left during Howard's nap-time was spent planning meals for the pantry challenge, and decluttering or cleaning the house.  And, of course the rest of my day is spent taking care of Howard, doing laundry, and cooking meals.  I made a LOT of progress on almost all of my goals (those that applied to this month anyway).  I am hoping to be able to continue this rapid pace of progress through February without losing much steam!  Here's what I was able to accomplish this month...

Household:

1. De-clutter the whole house in January, February, and March -- I have made a lot of progress with this in January.  So far I've De-cluttered both night stands and the baskets we keep underneath them, the top of the chest of drawers in our room, the back of our bed room door, three dresser drawers, the towel closet, the entire bathroom, the hall coat closet and it's 4 drawers, the desk, bookshelf, and bulletin board in the office nook, 5 of Howard's drawers, as well as gone through and binned up the 12 and 18 month clothes we have.  I have gotten rid of 8 reusable bags worth of stuff to sell, plus 4 grocery bags of stuff for Good Will, and 1 trash bag of garbage.
2. Do a Deep-Spring, and Deep-Fall Clean in March and November  As well as keep up with my weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly cleaning chores. -- N/A
3. Paint the Windows/Sills/Trim in the Kitchen and Nursery. --No progress yet on this; I'm going to wait until it's warmer out since the windows will need to be open.

Family:

1. Write a 'love letter' to Joe each month -- I actually accomplished this the last day of the month.  Better late than never right?!  I sort of forgot about it, and then it took me awhile to write something I was actually happy with and didn't think was sappy and stupid.  Hopefully it will be easier next month!
2. Take a trip to Maine in June with the hubby, and Howard. -- N/A
3. Take a Trip to Ocean City in August -- N/A
4. Get together with family at least once a month -- The 23rd was my oldest sister's wedding, so we were together with my family then, and had an amazing time.  Howard slept like a baby that night after being passed around the dance floor for a few hours!  We had a lunch date with his mom, step-father, and grandfather towards the beginning of the month, so we got to hang out with them as well!
5. Plan and Execute Howard's 1st Birthday Party -- N/A

Blogging:

1. Have 2 Freezer/Pantry Challenges (January and July), post updates on the blog, and defrost the chest freezer -- This went amazingly well, even though I missed some posts due to illness.  Our stores have dwindled, so I will be restocking a little at a time over the next couple months.  But we were able to use up a LOT of tid-bits that would have otherwise gone to waste.  We saved some money, not much grocery-budget-wise, but we saved a ton not eating out very often, hopefully we can continue this trend through February as well!
2. Post my Menu Plan, and Weekly Spending Report every week, along with at least 1 other post per week.  This may be an update, a reveal, a recipe, a shopping trip, some Aldi Deals, or a frugal find. -- Since I was posting almost daily in January for the Pantry challenge, I let this slide on purpose.  There wasn't really a need for a menu plan post since I was posting daily updates on what we ate.  I did post my weekly spending report every week, along with the January budget update, and my goals for 2015.  Overall I'm very pleased with my blogging for the month!
3. Plan and execute a 31 days post for October. -- N/A

Health:

1. Lose at least 20 lbs -- I've lost 4 pounds so far!   This is slow going, I think mostly because I'm still nursing.  But I did make some progress, and I'm happy about that.  Although I do think a lot of my progress has to do with limiting eating out.  Hopefully I can lose another 4 in February!
2. Drink plenty of water, eat healthy, and do exercise of some kind everyday. -- I have been drinking loads of water everyday, as well as trying to eat more protein, fruits, and veggies, and less carbs and sugar.  I've also been trying to make better choices when we do eat out (meat with salad and no fries, etc).  Exercising kind of took a back seat this month -- things have been so CRAZY with work!  I feel like I just don't have the free time to exercise and not do the 5 other things I should be doing, if you know what I mean.  I am going to be more intentional about this next month, even if it means exercising at 6 in the morning - ugh!

Budget/Income:

1. Do at least 5 Flea Markets throughout the year, and list at least bi-monthly on Amazon/Facebook Yard Sale. -- We did 1 flea market in January.  We did well, and got rid of lots of stuff.  I did not list on Amazon this month, so I have to in February to keep up with this goal.  But that shouldn't be a problem.  I have about 3 banana boxes of stuff to go through and list, so that should keep me busy in February!
2. Earn Swagbucks everyday by completing the daily poll, toolbar log-in, and NOSO offers daily.  (Try to earn $10 a month) -- I was successful with this in January!  I was able to earn enough for 2-$5 Amazon gift cards!  Hopefully I can complete this goal again in February!
3. Set a monthly budget, and coupon and deal shop as needed to stay within our budget. -- I did very well with this in January.  I was $13.20 under budget!  I posted my January report here.
4. Put at least an extra $100 a month on Joe's Credit Card starting in May -- N/A

Hobby-Related:

1. Scan the huge-a** box of photos we have had since my mom died two and a half years ago, and get them sorted to give to people, as well as put the ones I decide to keep in albums. -- I haven't even started on this.  I am hoping I can at least get started on it February, but we'll see.  After Valentine's day things should calm down a little at work, and I should have more Howard-nap-time to get some things done around the house instead of working on work stuff.  
2. Continue to work on Howard's baby book -- I worked on this a little in January.  I managed to finish 2 more pages.  I need to really work on this in February; I'm hoping I can get it completely caught up by the end of the month.
3. Try something new at least once a month and blog about it.  I have a LOT of new recipes and crafts I want to try -- With the pantry challenge going on, and daily posts about what meals I came up with, I just didn't have the time or energy to try anything else new (other than weird pantry challenge creation foods, none of which were very exciting this go round).  I'm hoping to try at least one new recipe in February, now that the pantry challenge is over with and I won't feel bad about buying new ingredients.

Linked to Money Saving Mom!