Getting ready for a new decade

well, actually, I am just getting ready for the new month. I don't have a crystal ball to know what will happen in the new decade, but I am pretty sure that in January, I will be feeding my family.
I've been reading about the Eat from your pantry challenge and I think it is a good idea. I will be on a plan that works for us, just like Money Saving Mom says.
My goal will not be to just eat from the pantry, I like keeping a pantry stocked and hope I don't empty it. But I will be trying to stick to a $100 a week budget - yes, that is higher than some families spend but it works with our income and saving goals just fine.

So, I spent some time this week cleaning out, inventorying and rearranging the pantry.
One area I do plan to use down is our frozen food. We don't have a big freezer, just the freezer space on top of a normal size fridge and a small extra fridge. I made a list of everything frozen and was amazed at how much is in them.


I think we have plenty of nuts and dried fruits....

Aren't these old-fashioned jars nice? I got 8 of them from my son that likes to thrift-store shop.

My eat from the pantry guidelines
use up the frozen items
eat from the pantry as much as possible
continue eating our normal amounts of fresh produce and dairy
stock up if a great sale comes along
$100 a week budget

So, who is else is doing their version of the pantry challenge?

Giveaway - free cereal from General Mills

This contest is closed and the winner is Dawn!
Thank you all for entering and congrats to Dawn.



We've all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that is epecially true for children. General Mills has improved the nutrition on some of their childrens cereals by lowering the sugar content.
General Mills, through MyBlogSpark, provided me with 4 coupons for boxes of their cereal, they are good on any GM cereal up to $6. They don't expire for a long time.



I am passing these coupons on to YOU - so just enter by leaving your name and I will pick a winner New Years Day. One reader will win all 4 coupons.
If you don't have a blog where I can contact you, then please leave your email in your comment.
To print a $1 coupon on GM cereals, use this link to do that. If you want to know more about GM cereals and children, read here.

getting ready for Christmas 2010

This pretty Christmas card was made by Susan and sent to me in 2008. Nina declared it "the cutest card ever" and it has been on my craft room bulletin board since it came.
Susan used a circle punch to cut out the pictures from old Christmas cards, then she glued them onto a solid bigger circle.
this is the card as I scanned it, it is so much prettier in real life - this scan just does not do it justice.

I am not taking down all our Christmas decorations today but I did take down a few things, including our 2009 cards that were hanging on ribbons in the hall.
I remembered how cute that card from Susan was, so I got out a punch, mine is square with raggedy edges, and punched out lots of squares to make Christmas cards to send next year.