Trimming The Fat

Chile is holding another challenge. This month it is the 'Trim the Fat' challenge, which will last the whole month of February. For more info. go over to the Trim the Fat post and check it out for yourself. Here are our ground rules.

1> stick to the grocery budget - no extra purchases, only what we need.
2> we've been eating beans once a week since the beginning of the year, this month we'll up it to twice a week. in the beginning the beans where horrible, too hard, too mushy, too salty, too bland. but the last time they were almost perfect. black eyed peas with carrots and onions and chicken bullion served over rice. it was more like black eyed pea and rice soup but it was yummy, a bit on the salty side but still yummy.
3> no extra purchases other than valentine's day with a $10 limit. luckily I've already gotten the kids valentine presents while they were on sale after Christmas, 2 puppet sets (4 puppets in each set) and a stool with pretend food that stores inside it all for just 7.5o total. we will be ordering our seeds and plants this month for our garden so that will be an extra expense but this is something we've been planning for so it will be allowed. I might try my hand at this which sounds like a great way to make personalized valentines and trim the trash too.
4> this is more for me than anything - limit computer time and tv time. I've got a huge reading list I'd like to get through so I've got plenty to do. our library also offers what they call 'discovery kits' for kids ages 2-5. we've currently got the alphabet one and the family one. we'll continue to work our way through those for February. we'll not just eat together as a family each evening we'll also do an activity together to keep the tv and computer off. we have been a little better at this on Mondays but we'll strive to work it in every day of the week. also I'll be doing less checking on the blogs of others so that will limit my computer time too.
5> transportation, this will continue to be business as usual but here are the ground rules for February: jason will continue to use the bus for the rest of the month. the car will only get used on Fridays to go to the library for story time, Tuesdays for play group (if the kids are feeling well) Saturdays for grocery shopping and Sundays for church.

that's about it for the ground rules. sorry about the formating of this post but hey, I'm limiting my computer time.