It has always been hard for me to tell the difference between a need and a want- just ask my parents or refer to my blog title, hello....Shopaholic here. But recently, The Kelly's have been trying something called "A Budget"!
I know, this is probably something we should have had years ago, but in all honestly I never really thought we needed it. We pay our bills on time, we have a savings account (3 of them actually), we have a college fund for Alexa, we each have a 401K, and additional investments. We are able to afford all of our needs and most of our wants, we go vacations and we have nice things. I thought we were doing pretty good over here. That was until earlier this month when I decided to see just how much we were spending and on what. What I found was shocking! The most of our money outside of monthly bills, goes to food (eating out specifically) and gas. If we just made a few small changes, I think we could be doing MUCH better.
In order to cut down on some of our extra spending, we needed to get serious about planning a weekly menu. I was going to the grocery store daily for the things we needed for our dinner that night- which was using gas and causing more spending at the store than needed.
Monday we had Tuna Burgers, which are always a favorite and Tuesday we had sloppy Joe's. Both meals were so quick, and easy. I don't like Manwich, so I used this recipe and prepared them the night before in the crock pot. It really doesn't get much easier than that and they were delicious, even Alexa loved them!
Last night I made this chicken recipe which was SO easy and SO good! We had everything we needed already in the house (thanks Ian for bringing home the wine!). We had corn leftover from the night before and I made some rice. Seriously, such a simple dinner that was SO delicious!!
Another big expense- eating out- is done mostly during the week for lunch. I usually pack my lunch and always pack Alexa's. I asked Ian if he minded bringing his lunch daily and he agreed. All week I have been packing for the three of us and its been great. We (Ian) are eating healthier and saving money! Im sure most of you are thinking, "really- you never thought of this before" and the answer is yes- we had but it just never happened.
I get that its only been three days, but so far so good. Last week I put together a list of our favorite dinners and I think tonight we will have fajitas. Another quick, easy, healthy delicious dinner. I'm hoping we can keep up our newish lifestyle of saving money, and eating healthier up. Wish us luck!
Happy Thursday!
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