Let me first start off by saying if you have EVER had any kind of grocery dilemma, stay tuned! A little background. Me and Brad became fans of Dave Ramsey while in preaching school. For those of you who don't know, he is a money guru. He has awesome tips at getting out of debt and staying debt free. We have read his book The Total Money Makeover, and tried to apply those principles to our lives. It is hard work, but it really does payoff. Anyhow. He has a radio talk show on about the same time I am waiting in car line to pick Jacob and Carley up, so I usually listen to it and work on my ladies bible class lesson for the 20 minutes I wait (you know multitasking is a requirement for being a mother!). The other day he did an advertisement for
www.e-mealz.com and all of these moms were on there raving about all the money they were saving and how easy it made their lives, so I thought I would check it out. Well anyone mentions saving money and I'm all ears, being the bargain hunter I am. I checked out the website and am hooked. It is awesome! A panel of moms, just like us, go through all the store ads and make menus according to what is on sale. I have in the past tried to do this, but it takes me hours of stressing and is usually hit or miss. They do all the work. First, you pick your favorite grocery store, Publix, Wal-Mart, Aldi, my favorite Kroger, etc. Then you pick what you need, meals for 2, meals for a family, low-fat, low carb, vegetarian, etc. Then once a week a menu is giving along with a detailed grocery list and prices. You can change your menu up if you wish by marking off a meal you may not want. The grocery list labels your ingredients by meal numbers, so if you don't want meal #3, just mark off all the ingredients with a 3 beside it. They promise all weeks will come to an average of $75 a week. This has cut my spending tremendously. No more buying useless stuff to sit in my pantry for weeks. Of course nothing is free. The cost is $5 a month, taking out of your account $15 every 3 months. But there is a coupon code. Type DAVE in the coupon code at checkout and it will reduce it to $12.50. I feel it is well worth it. Check out the website, they have sample menus to look at and explain how it all works.
One of the elders wives here at the congregation has the best garden I think I have ever seen. Her yard is absolutely beautiful. She always has fresh cut flowers in her home, and you know how I feel about fresh flowers in the house. She knows that I share her love of flowers and last night after church she brought me a huge assortment of her buttercups (it was enough to make 5 arrangements!). Thanks Miss Bettye, I LOVE YOU!!!!!
