Over the weekend we were running low on meats and proteins in the house, my husband thinks you have to have one or the other in a meal or it isn’t well a meal.  I had reserved a couple chicken breasts from a family pack I had purchased and I was determined to make them stretch. He kept saying, “I don’t know what you’re going to do with 2 chicken breasts to make them stretch.” Oh ye little faith!  I stretched those puppies and he loved it.  It involved pounding them thin, sauteing onions and bacon, need I say  more?

I have also been researching other “frugal” methods. I’m going to try my hand at some of them, such as “making my own laundry detergent”.  It actually seems pretty easy and I”m excited.  I also purchased myself some “dryer balls” this weekend, an alternative to dryer sheets.

What are your favorite frugal “creative” methods?

enu planning days seem to come around too quickly, but I made it.

Here we go:

1) hotdogs, fries

2) tilapia tacos, chips, peaches

3) stroganoff roast beef, egg noodles, beans

4)  mini roast beef sandwiches, sweet potato fries

5) classic spaghetti, bread

6) parmesan chicken, mased potatoes, beans

7) pasta recipe (new thing I can’t remember the name)

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:19 KJV

No matter how many times I’ve read it, I must admit I have still found myself questioning it, still sitting at my desk adding the numbers and trying to make them work myself. Even though I’ve seen more times than not in my 10 years of marriage where God has done his “miracle math” supplying all our needs.

Tonight God supplied one of his “miracles” for us, it may not seem like or sound like a miracle when you here it but to me it was… tonight as we were leaving to go with my in-laws to eat pizza for my daughter’s birthday (she’ll be 3 on Tuesday) our van wouldn’t start. My husband immediately thought it was the battery. We had my father-in-law give us a boost and on the way for pizza we went to Auto Zone for a battery.

“How much will this cost?” I inquired of my husband on the way, he mentioned we had gotten the battery not even 3 years ago when our van had the same mishap just before a family vacation. I remembered and we talked about how short of a life the battery had lived.

We arrived at the Auto Zone, my husband went inside and soon came back out motioning for me to pull up to the front of the store. The worker was with him toolbox in one hand, new battery in the other. I yelled out the door to my husband, “do you need my checkbook?” He replied, “Shouldn’t.” I didn’t say anything but wondered. Then he informed me that the battery was under warranty.

When he got in I was whooping and hollering we had just gotten a new battery for —– $0 thanks to the warranty and to “my God for supplying all my needs.” AMEN.

I have over the past few weeks taken a great deal off of that “pile”, resulting in sometimes feeling a bit light and that has tempted me to add something back to the plate or find something new to add to the plate.  I’m trying terribly to resist.  God is desperately pleading with me to just be.

I worry about the things that go undone . . .He picks up the pieces.

I worry about the money that isn’t made . . . He provides our every need.

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

I am changing this and beginning today I am committing to pray for him daily.  I know this can only do good things for our marriage.  I found an awesome resource this morning when searching for devotions and scriptures on this topic.  It is a downloadable form about praying for your Husband and 31 Days of Prayer.

If you’re like me and need some guidance on this you should go download the form.  I want to be this woman of scripture,

“Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.  She brings him good not harm all the days of her life.”  Proverbs 31:11-12

I know with prayer that can be possible, but without it I can surely never succeed.  I’m committed, do you need to commit too?

This year I’m choosing to make candy.  My reason is that I didn’t want to have to go out and buy supplies I was trying to work with what I already had on hand instead.  So I determined I’d make cornflake candy and another candy I had eaten many times but never made.  I located the recipes online and determined it is called puppy chow.

My first batch of cornflake candy I failed to add one ingredient so I’m keeping it for us but my second batch turned out stiff.  Don’t think I’ll be using it.  The only thing I’ll be taking is the puppy chow and it is quite yummy….

I just keep having issues, whether it be yesterday’s Paypal mishap, ugh or the fact that we are faced with cookie dough sales from the school at $15 a pop or any other random thing. I must inform you of the Paypal mishap though because it has GOT to be the most frustrating thing that has happened to me in a long time.

On Friday I had some Paypal cash I wanted to transfer to my bank account. It was a pretty good amount of money so I was excited. Somehow, wires got crossed however and on Monday I check my bank account to find that Paypal has instead withdrawn that amount of money from my bank account overdrawing it. I was then faced with a possible overdraft fee unless I covered the money that day and when I called to find out how to fix the issue I had to pay a $20 stop payment fee to have the money stopped.

As of this morning the money has still not been returned to my account and I am waiting on a new transaction to transfer money from Paypal to the bank yet again. I have most of my money “hanging in the air” right now between Paypal and the bank account. Can you say frustrated?

1.  pork roast, roasted red potatoes, beans

2.  Southwest chicken taco salad

3.  chicken parm over lasagna florentine (had this Sat night yum)

4.  Broccoli and cheese soup & muffins

5.  Greek tillapia, mashed potatoes, salda

6.  Sourdough bacon sandwiches, fries

7.  great gravy pork chops, mashed potatoes, beans (never had this last week)

8.  stir fry, rice, chicken

9.  homemade pizza

You can find more menu plans at one of my favorite blogs, Org Junkie.com

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

I am grateful for how quickly things can change, for the fact that I can set my mind to changing and I can do it. For the fact that I can call on friends to pray, they do so and I feel their prayers. My heart and my mind and my treasure are in a much different place than they were a few weeks ago and for that I am grateful.

Thank you Lord for being a God of second, third and fourth chances and thank you for allowing me to do. . . whatever I set my mind on.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

These include a menu planning / grocery list service called E-mealz and a chore chart called Motivated Moms.  Both program are recommended by Dave Ramsey, which is why I found them because I’m a big Dave fan and currently working through his Total Money Makeover.

This way, my meal plans and my grocery list are 90% done for me and my chores / housecleaning routine is laid out into manageable chunks for me to do each day, plus even better it allows me to “check them off” the list as I go, which totally feeds my Type A personality.

I’m in love with these two products and so glad I spent some BLOW money on them (don’t know what Blow money is? Check out Dave Ramsey.com).

Do you have a housekeeper or just some tricks, products or services that are . . . the next best thing?  Share them with me.

**I will receive a small commission if you purchase these product / services from my links.