Paper Towels

So I have been looking at how to save money and also be a little more green and I am disgusted by how many paper towels we use. I find myself reaching for a paper towel to:

Dry my hands
Clean up spills
Dry a pan
Wipe the stove
Clean up the baby
Clean the windows/bathroom/etc

Basically, we have two rolls of paper towels out at any given time and probably go through more then a roll a week. I also have an entire drawer full of dish towels that we could be using instead. I am also going to go and get some of those microfiber towels and cut them into paper towel size. I make, wash, and reuse baby wipes I can surely make, wash, and reuse towels each week. So I here by vow to only use paper towels to clean up the really yucky stuff like dog vomit and to stop using them for the every day stuff. We have 4 rolls of paper towels left in the house. I am hoping they will last us until October instead of just until the middle of July.

Ok enough groceries... how about some poop?

So I haven't updated on Jocelyn's eating or potty training lately. Well I am proud to say we had a nice big messy poop on the potty yesterday morning. Honestly, I couldn't be prouder as a mom yet I know that it was just dumb luck. I put her on there each morning and just hope that something happens. Usually we get a pee. Yesterday we got a poop. Nice huh? The stuff I look forward to as a mommy.

Eating has been more of a challenge. She loves to nurse and I think she would live off of breastmilk until she was 18 years old if she had a chance. Don't worry I would definitely wean before high school... :-) Anyway, she has tried salmon and tuna now and liked both. She still loves green beans and she definitely eats better at home then when we travel. Last week I don't think she ate a single solid morsel the whole time we were gone. EVERYTHING went on the floor. I tried to explain that we didn't bring the dogs but I guess she thought they must be hungry and just hiding somewhere. Now that we are back home she is eating blueberries, cheerios, green beans, and some meat again. We tried kiwi and that wasn't a big hit. Oh she had some corn bread tonight too. So we are trying to introduce more foods but I try to have something that she 'likes' around too. Of course, what she likes this week might not be what she likes next week. I am finding this method of feeding very frustrating. I am hoping once she gets some teeth she will really take off with eating. I am also hoping that she might consider dropping a few night time nursing sessions. I really don't want to push for night weaning but some nights are rough (and we are co-sleeping).

I have also decided that I need more me time. I haven't been able to get out to knitting in a LONG time and I think my attitude is suffering because of this. I need some non-baby time. I feel awful saying that but it is true. I am hoping to get back into daddy-daughter night (aka mommy gets out of the house night) at least once every other week. It is tough because I want to save money and the hubby still has a lot of commitments but I think it is something I need. Today I did the first part of the 30 day shred and the hubby took Jocelyn for a walk at the same time. When I was done, I was so confused and happy to be all alone in the house (well except for the dogs). It was nice to be able to work out without listening to a baby babble in the next room and wonder if she was ok or tired or hungry, etc.

More groceries

Jocelyn and I are back from our world tour (ok just a PA state tour but still it felt like a LONG trip). We visited my grandma, uncle, aunt, mom, dad, sister, and a 'cousin' (not sure if it is second cousin or first cousin once removed). Then we visited Kevin's grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, cousin, and great-aunt. Plus we hit the Pittsburgh Zoo. All in all it was a good trip. It only really cost Jocelyn and I gas as meals and entertainment were covered by family plus free lodging. The hubby ate out of the fridge, freezer, and pantry. So no grocery bill last week. WHOOT! However, since I did get gas 3 times we should probably assume our grocery bill just went to pay for gas. Ok so the tentative meal plan for this week:

Pesto Pasta
Fish
Burgers/Hot Dogs
Beef Tamale Bake
Swiss Steak Supper
Pineapple/Orange Cake (ok so a dessert but had to try the recipe)

We went to Wegman's on Saturday morning which turns out not to be that bad of a time to go shopping. It was crazy but not as crazy as a typical weekend Wegman's trip which was odd since it was graduation weekend for so many high schools. I thought it would be much busier. Ok here is the damage:

3.19 - Potato Rolls
2.99 - Yogurt
1.88 - Milk
3.99 - OJ
1.29 - Eggs
1.99 - Shredded Cheese
1.19 - Whipped Topping
1.19 - Corn Meal
3.79 - Cran-Raspberry Juice
0.89- Angel Hair Pasta
0.89 -Rigatoni
0.89 - Penne Pasta
0.67 - Mandarin Oranges
1.99 - Salsa
0.99 - Crushed Pineapple
1.19 - Diced Tomatoes
0.99 - Cake Mix
1.99 - Honey Nut Cereal
0.39 - Pudding Mix
20.98 - Beer (2 - 12 packs)
0.99 - Tomato Sauce
6.01 - Beef Round Steak
18.04 - Ground Beef (7 lbs)
13.98 - Salmon
2.49 - Graduation Card
1.50 - Blueberries
2.50 - Raspberries
2.29 - Onions
1.71 - Green Beans
3.49 - Potatoes
1.31 - Bananas
1.00 - Kiwi
0.99 - Baby Carrots
7.99 - Coffee

We had a bunch of bottle returns and a $1 off coupon for the coffee. So in total we paid $113.05. Yikes. That is no where near the $60-75 weekly bill I am hoping to get down to. Now in fairness we stocked up a bit on this trip. We got 7 lbs of ground beef. I am using 2 lbs this week and putting 5 lbs in the freezer. We got frozen salmon which will last us for a few meals. Those two items alone total over $22. We did not buy any soda which usually costs us $10 but we did spend over $20 on beer. We stocked up on pasta ($3 or so) because we didn't have any in the pantry. So mixed feelings on the grocery trip. Good stocking up but still spending too much money. We have company coming into town for the weekend again so we will likely be hitting the grocery store before Saturday to get food for the weekend. I am hoping to keep the damage to a minimum but it is hard with big holiday cook-outs, etc. I am looking for a good red/white/blue dessert idea. Any suggestions?

Groceries

I have been reading some other blogs that deal with saving money. One (http://www.trenchesofmommyhood.blogspot.com/) is currently trying to live the month of June on $1200. Now we couldn't live on 1200 seeing how our mortgage plus taxes plus utilities come to more then that each month. But it got me thinking about how much we have been spending on food lately. We are easily spending $100 or more on food a week and this is with us cutting out a lot of eating out. We still probably eat meals out 2-3 times a week. Jocelyn and I have been going to that STM breakfast each Thursday and that costs us around $10. Kevin and I and the baby typically will meet for a lunch out once a week so that will cost us $15-25 depending on where we go. Then if we do one dinner out we are taking probably another $20-35 again depending on where we go. So that is another lets say $50 on food. I feel like we need to cut our weekly grocery bill but I don't know how. Here is my latest grocery bill (now this is not a typical week, in fact this was just a trip to the store to get food for the weekend for the in laws visit):

3.39 Two packs of Thomas' English Muffins (buy one get one free saved 3.39)
2.99 Honet Nut Scooters
2.39 Shake and Pour Pancake mix
1.29 Cream Cheese
4.99 Two packs of ball park all beef franks (buy one get on free saved 4.99)
4.49 Bacon
4.19 1/2 lb Tavern Ham Deli Meat
2.00 Wheat Bread
2.29 Butter
1.99 Potato Buns
4.79 Chicken Breast
2.50 Lupos Marinade
0.99 Hot Dog buns
4.99 Cole Slaw
3.99 Two packages of Choc. Chip Cookies (buy one get one free saved 3.99)
2.79 Cool Whip
4.19 Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry Juice
2.59 5 lb Sugar
3.00 1/2 lb Deli Cheese
5.98 2 packages frozen Raspberries
12.00 2 packages of Angel Soft (this was a sale)

I used a $2 off coupon from Enjoy the City. With tax, it all came to $76.77. That seems crazy to me. Now I am feeding 5 adults and one baby for basically 2 days. So far I have used 1/2 of one pack of English muffins (I'll freeze the second package), all the chicken, 1/2 a pack of hot dogs (will freeze the second pack), 1/2 a pack of rolls (will freeze the second pack), 1/2 the bacon, the marinade, cool whip, raspberries, cream cheese, some of the cole slaw and deli cheese. I figure we will use the pancake mix for breakfast and the deli meat/bread for lunch. Obviously the toilet paper won't be wasted. But I seriously can't believe that I spent that much on a quick trip to the store. I'll be away this coming week but next week I'll post our weekly menu and the grocery list. Ideally I'd like to get our weekly spending down to around $65-70 for groceries. As it stands with last week's initial $100 trip and this weekend's trip we are about $105 over that goal. I guess I need to get planning better and shopping smarter. Oh and my receipt says I saved 19.64 on this trip. Sure that makes me feel good but still I can't help thinking I can do a LOT better then that.