Challenge.....

Busy is a word I never thought I would use to describe my life. I don't want to be busy, I am an organized, anal, type A, control freak. I am not supposed to be hectic and SO BUSY! Phil and I have thrown ourselves into a lot over the past few years. All with guidance from God and blessings galore of course but it leaves us feeling drained and unorganized. People who have been to my house and know me I am certain are rolling their eyes but I seriously do not feel put together at all.

My work allows me to work from home alot which is good and bad. Good because I can throw in a load of laundry here and there and start dinner and eat at home lunches saving us money but bad becuase my office/scrapbook room has become and unorganized junk pile! I have stacks of things just sitting on the stairs "waiting to be put away". Something I said I would NEVER do in my own home. My pantry hasn't been cleaned or organized in over a month and my deep freeze is over flowing with food!

So.....all this complaining to say. I am participating in the Eat from the Pantry Challenge for the month of January. I am going to avoid grocery stores as much as possible which will help us keep our costs down as well as one less thing to do!


Phil and I have been working really hard on saving money and starting our marriage out with little debt. We didn't pay the $100 to take the Dave Ramsey course but we did buy his book Total Money Makeover for $20. We are making smart decisions and proud of ourselves for it. We live without cable, in "cold" temperatures, we don't go out to eat often and we have been nothing but blessed by it! I love grocery shopping so this is sort of bitter sweet for me but I think it will be fun to see what creative healthy meals we can come up with with products that are already in our freezer and pantry! It will also save us money on our $200 grocery budget that we are hoping to donate to our food pantry (another post shortly on this incredible blessing to our community and our church).

You can head over here to read Life As a Moms progress as well as those participating in the challenges progress or check us out on facebook!

So here are my goals for this challenge:
Create a List of items in my Food and Pantry: I did this once before but didn't keep up with it and therefore it is old and outdated.

Only buy dairy, veggies and fruits at the store this month

Spend less than $75 on the above items in the store this monht

Make Room in my freezer and try the Once a Month Mom Cooking Challenge in February

I am off to take some chicken out of the freezer for Chicken Chili tomorrow in the crockpot and then pick up Evy and Carrie :)