Menu Plan

1. Cheeseburgers, pasta salad

2. BBQ's, coleslaw

3. Pizza

4. Spaghetti with meat sauce

5. chicken or steak (I have not done the grocery shopping for the week, yet, but I think I have everything else on hand.)

6. salmon cakes, macaroni 'n cheese

7. scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, toast

I know, I know, these menus are boring, but it's what we eat. Having a list of meals does help me save money and not be stressed at dinner time.

Very funny!

I just read the funniest post by Soph at BooMama. Honestly, I laughed throughout the entire post and all 289 comments! The topic is "Christian closing phrases for letters", which doesn't sound too funny, but get ready to laugh. My favorite is from Shannon:

"Training my children up in the way they should go while submitting to my husband and considering a field and buying it and having no fear for my household because all of them are clothed in scarlet"

I found Soph's post because she is BlogHer of the week. It is a classic post.

Menu Plan

1. Cheeseburgers, oven fries
2. Homemade pizza
3. Beefy bean burritos
4. Hot dogs, pasta salad
5. Steak hoagies
6. Oven fried chicken, browned potatoes, broccoli


Only 6 meals to plan this week because we're going out of town for a cross country meet.

September Earn More Goals

Even though September is a very busy month for me, I going to make several goals for the Earn More Challenge. I plan to learn from the other participants and hopefully add some $$ to September's budget. I'm going to keep my goals modest and practical:

• Collect snowflakes--reimbursement from school and medical savings account


• Post on Craig's list--2 window air conditioners


• Inquire about teaching another class next semester and about summer job

I think that's all for right now. These seem doable and not overwhelming!

Thank you, Money Funk, for the great challenge for September! It should be fun!

Emergency Fund Depleted

It's more of an unexpected expense than an emergency, but I raided my emergency fund today. My house has a pellet stove, and pellets are less expensive if I order them now, before winter hits. Next year, I will plan ahead and save for the pellets all summer.
Using the pellet stove should decrease my heating bill overall this winter. Since this will be my first full winter in the house, I should be able to track my heating expenses by keeping good records in YNaB.
With the September 15th pay, I'll start rebuilding the emergency fund. It's a good thing that September's Challenge is to earn more. It looks like I'm going to need a little income boost!