To live frugally with generousity.

I was very surprised to find out I had won. I am afraid not much was on my mind except learning about type 1 diabetes during the last week of the contest...

And after paying over $300 in diabetic supplies I want everyone to know the money couldn't come at a better time..

I will be back and blogging about deals very soon because I need to be pinching the pennies even more now...

Those few words have turned our world upside down. One week ago my 11 year old daughter was diagnosed with this life changing condition and we spent many days at Children's Hospital being ministered to my medical angels.... or so they seemed to us. We were in a state of shock and fear and they guided us through a world we never wanted to know.

Well I have solved another computor problem for now.... but when ever I am e-mail less, I am amazed at how completely dependent we have become on this form of communication!

Well the lovely weather has had me venture outside and start taking stalk of the garden "to dos" and starting to plan what to grow this summer.

Change the World for Ten Bucks
50 Actions to Change the World
By We Are What We Do
The big problems of the world cause the average person to be paralyzed, thinking that big issues need big solutions, and nothing they can do will make a difference anyway...

To help keep food costs down, I do a lot of baking, mostly goodies. I break each batch of baking into 3. One for eating that day and for lunches. One batch for the freezer. One batch for sharing.

Run to Save-on-foods!

Whole wheat fraft dinner is on for 4 for $5 AND they have coupons there that if you buy 5 kraft products you get $5 off your groceries.... see where this is going!
I bought 5 kraft dinners (the whole wheat) kind for $1.25!

I bought 20 boxes
I am keeping 6 the rest will be donated!

I just want to say thanks to all the wonderful leaders (you know who you are!!!).

My children are in scouts and I just packed up my 11 year old to go on a weekend camping trip to the island where she will be participating in a big scout challenge.

Two weekends ago, my son went winter camping in eight feet of snow.

I am preparing to send two of my Kids off to training camp over spring break (two weeks of hard labour LOL, but they love it!). So we rounded up unused Christmas gift cards and headed to willowbrook (we took the ferry, boy am I going to miss that boat!) mall to buy the necessary requirements....

Out of pocket expenses came to 11.24 cents, because the Gift cards covered everything else.

Sorry I haven't been on but my computor contracted a nasty wormy thing.....

Anyways I am very proud of myself because with the help of telus, and microsoft and many frystrating hours I managed to reset and get rid of the nasty thing....all by self!

Last time it cost me $100 and the techie didn't even fix it completly!

Anyways I am back up and running again! Yeah!

This wasn't my 2009 resolution, I started doing this in 2006, and I used this formula (I'm a bit of a geek, and I can't really do anything w/o hard figures and guidelines):

Mondays menu

Breakfast- Oatmeal and toast
Lunch- Homemade vegetable soup, sandwiches, pickes, yogurt, fruit, butter tarts (combo of these items depending on family member).
Dinner- Tomato and Cheese souffle, oven fries, salad, Cake

Snacks- Fruit and yogurt

Is being charitable still possible while being frugal? I think so.
My children and I volunteer at a shelter or sandwich truck at least once a month but I also like to donate food and money as much as I can.

Ok.... so what did we eat today?

Pancakes- Homemade with organic whole wheat ( I grind my own from bulk organic grain...) and locally grown walnuts.
Oranges

Lunch- Different stuff for everyone but each person selected from- Homemade minestrone, homemade savory rosemary muffins, sandwiches, yogurt, leftover appleblackberry crisp (from my trees and local shrubs).

Ok.... so what did we eat today?

Pancakes- Homemade with organic whole wheat ( I grind my own from bulk organic grain...) and locally grown walnuts.
Oranges

Lunch- Different stuff for everyone but each person selected from- Homemade minestrone, homemade savory rosemary muffins, sandwiches, yogurt, leftover appleblackberry crisp (from my trees and local shrubs).

Well I felt today was a frugal success. A great first step!

It was payday so it was my "big" grocery shopping day. I spent 80.21 at Save-on-foods and 29.34 at Safeway and 9.93 at McGavins Bread Outlet. This supplied enough food for the next week plus many staples for my begining pantry stockpile. Any additional shopping trips during the next week will be for dairy, fruit and vegetables.

I have never blogged before and so please forgive me as I learn as I go. But after much consideration I realized that this process could indeed help me on my journey to attain our financial goals.