No Spending Update, Meal Plan, and Why I LOVE the library

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Good morning. It is a chilly Monday morning here in South Alabama. I hope you and yours enjoyed a glorious weekend. 

We enjoyed some down time and family time and frugal time. As you know Danielle from Blissful and Domestic and I launched #NOSpenduary last week. 

Let me tell you... I almost failed just a few days in.... confession, I am a no spenduary fraud!!! On Friday I lost a pair of pants I love. At least I thought I lost them. As some of you are aware, I got rid of half my clothes. So now I only own a few pairs of pants. And these were my FAVORITE. I only owned them a week, but still my FAVORITE. 

When I couldn't find them I started to panic and I was convinced that I had accidently stuck them in the purge bag and hauled them to Goodwill. So I was nanoseconds away from ordering a new pair when my husband found them hanging on the back of a chair. FRAUD I TELL YOU. I AM A TOTAL FRAUD. 

Okay so now that that meltdown is out of the way let's move on! 

This weekend we had lots of frugal (read: FREE) fun at our house. 

Friday night Jason and I enjoyed a "date night" at home courtesy of some Christmas gift cards. We got a little take out using a gift and then rented a movie via Amazon courtesy of another gift card. Whoot! 

Saturday we took the boys to a new park. 

 

Family fun doesn't have to cost a thing. We spent some time at our local park. #nospenduary

A video posted by LydiaSenn (@thesennfam) on Jan 1, 2015 at 12:28pm PST

 

They had so much fun running on the castle, playing on the slide and rolling down the play equipment and we had fun chasing them. It felt good to get out of the house and just play! 

Then we hit up the library where I can honestly tell you our family saves over a $1,000 each year by using the library. 

Having fun as a family doesn't have to cost anything. 

I also wanted to share with you our budget-friendly meal plan for the week. We will be hitting up the market for some fresh produce and milk, but that's pretty much it. 

Monday- Tortilla bowls with rice and veggies. This is a really simple meal. You literally turn the tortilla into a bowl and eat out of it! I will show you how I do that on Wednesday. 

Tuesday- White Chicken Chili simple and delicious. I am using leftover chicken! 

Wednesday-  Corn and rice casserole. It's just a corn version of this recipe, but I added a little chicken to it as well. 

Thursday- Frittata

Friday- BBQ Chicken Pizza! 

What's on your meal plan?? 

Don't forget for meal planning tips and tools pick up a copy of The Poor Girl's Handbook to the Kitchen for just $2.99! It's loaded with tips, tricks, and recipes. 

For more great meal plans hop on over to Org Junkie. 

What's on your meal plan this week? 


 

Starting the New Year with a NO SPENDUARY Challenge

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HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope everyone had a wonderful and stress free Christmas. 

Now it is time to get back into the grind of life. Or at least gear up for it as you sit in your jammies on New Year's Day drinking a cup of coffee. 

I am joining Danielle from Blissful and Domestic in issuing a No SPENDUARY Challenge. Some of you might remember that I did this last February with great success. That was the month we officially became debt free. 

My family really wants to start the new year off on the right foot. We are now in a new house, and we have so many plans and some of them involved building back up our savings and working toward paying off our house in the next few years. 

For the month of January the Senn Family has committed to not spending money outside of our basic obligations. 

We will pay our bills, gas our cars and keep our babies in diapers. We will eat fresh produce and continue to meet our financial obligations. But we will NOT spend money on things outside of our basic needs. 

No entertainment money, no going out to eat, no stopping by Goodwill just to see what cute sweaters are on the rack. None of that. 

Instead we will put any extra money toward savings goals. 

But we won't be doing the following:

  • buying cups of coffee from Starbucks
  • hitting up the drive through for breakfast 
  • buying books for our Kindle 
  • stopping by Zaxby's for lunch after church
  • buying things simply because they are a good deal

I will be checking in each Monday to tell you how our progress is going. I will also be focusing on frugal meal plans, DIYs and entertainment. 

I think it could be fun. 

You can join us but don't be intimidated. This is not all or nothing. If you just don't feel up to the full commitment pick one area of your spending and focus on that. Say you just don't get coffee at the drive through all month and you carry a thermos instead or you don't hit up the Redbox and go to the library instead. 

These little changes add up quick. 

If you do decide to join in on the fun you can let me know just Tweet me, Facebook me or snap a photo for Instagram and use the hashtag #NOSpenduary!

We can do this!

What are some things you could give up for the month?