Wordless Wednesday: My goofball Daughter

Daycare sent me this picture today, it says it all, my daughter is going to be a goofy girl. I love it!

Frugality?

So, being new parents and having to tighten our budget has been hard. We've definitely had our share of financially "tight" moments this year. I think we're in denial that we can live like we used to while paying for daycare and baby needs; we can't.

Over the last few months, I have been trying to see where we can cut some costs. First, I refinanced my car. I had an ugly interest rate because when I bought the car my credit was in the shitter and the car was going to rehab it (which it did, I was able to get a mortgage because of it and now my credit is close to immaculate). I was able to get it down to 5.9% and reduce the payment to $350/month saving $150 a month- win!
Next, the decision that was the hardest for us- switching cable providers. We are HUGE TV people, so while it may not be a big deal to some people, trimming our cable channels is painful. We decided to cut the cord on Comcast because I was sick of spending $200/month on TV, phone and internet. We called around some other places and were able to get all the channels we wanted for $79/month and $54/month for internet and phone. We also will not keep any premium channels unless a show we watch is on. So, unless True Blood or Dexter is playing, we won't order the channel.

Between refinancing my car and changing cable companies, we're saving $215 a month, almost $2600 a year. It's amazing what 2 little changes can do! We decided we could do more though and we are actively cutting down on our Starbucks consumption. There have been weeks (we're not proud of this) that we have both gotten Starbucks every day, that's like $10/day. To save a considerable amount of money, we've been making our own 2 gallons of iced coffee for the week. I found this recipe that uses a cold process method that really turns out well. No acidic taste at all. There is another $100/month.

I think we're on our way to being more conscious about spending. One thing we need to do more of is weigh need vs want when we make a purchase. It's hard because we haven't had to do that in the many years we've been together. I guess it will make us easier to shop for during holidays though!

Tasty Thursday!

So, I made these incredible, light, fluffy pancakes last week, this is a picture from the blog I got them from because, well, we ate them so fast I couldn't get a picture. I am obsessed with pumpkin in the Fall and what better way to wake up on a cool crisp weekend morning than these bad boys? Use REAL maple syrup on these, it's really a sin if you don't because they are soo good, too good not to have the real thing.

Pumpkin Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour (you can do 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour if you want some added fiber and protein)
3 Tbs. Sugar
2 tsp. Baking Powder
3/4 tsp. of Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
3/4 tsp. Salt
1 1/3 Cups of Milk
3/4 Cups Canned Pumpkin
4 large Eggs, separated
1/4 Cup Butter, Melted
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Heat your pan

Combine all the dry ingredients together. Whisk to combine. Combine all your wet ingredients together, MINUS the egg whites. Stir wet and dry ingredients together. Beat your egg white just until soft white peaks form. Fold into your batter.


Recipe adapted from sweetandsavorybysarah

Fall Weekends

Weekends in the Fall are my favorite! It's not hot (though this weekend I think it will be on the warmer side), not freezing and there are a ton of things to do outside. This weekend happens to be a long weekend since daycare is closed I took the day off on Monday. I am so excited for it, I think I may have already booked us full with ideas running through my head of what to do.


Saturday, we're going to see some friends I went to college with and their kids, I am excited to do some play dates now that Anneliese is getting to be more social. I am definitely going to try to get to the new Pinkberry this weekend as well (I am sure it will be mobbed). Monday if time allows, we're going to brew some beer, it'll be perfect weather for it. We have all the making for a Oaked Vanilla Imperial Stout sitting around so that's what we're going to try.


I am also going to try to do some cooking! I have decided, it's way too hard to get meals done during the week when I hardly have time to breathe. I am going to try some meal planning for the first time ever and start this Sunday. This week, I am going to make a whole roast chicken on Sunday night for dinner and then plan my weekly meals around that. One night, I am thinking about mac and cheese with broccoli and chicken, maybe some chicken fajitas. I am open to some suggestions, what are some of your favorite quick chicken dishes? Sunday, I will post what I am going to do for the rest of the week to hopefully give some inspiration to others!