A bit early..

Okay, there's only 2 days left in 2011 and I thought about adding up how much money I've spent this year. Then I thought to myself, do I really want to be depressed or mad at myself? The answer was no. So I didn't. There's no point. The money is gone and there's nothing I can do about it. But I know it was way more than I needed to. So for 2012 my New Years resolution is going to be to spend less money. I'm really going to buckle down on my grocery shopping and coupons. I don't need to buy something just because it's fifty cents if I really don't need it. I don't NEED Chicfala for lunch. No more Target runs just because I have nothing else to do. So what if I get 30% off at kohls? If I don't need anything, I'm throwing it away. Can't use it if I don't have it. Point being-I spend too much money when it's not needed. This blog is going to be a way for me to keep up my expences. I'm going to be 100% honest on everything we spend. (Minus our bills and house payment.).

Side note: NO, I don't buy things just because I have a coupon for it. I'm not like those people on TV. We use what we buy. BUT I don't need the chex mix that I normally wouldn't buy just because it's only $.50. Yeah I saved $2.00, but I wasn't going to buy it in the first place. So really, it's an extra $.50 I wasn't going to spend. Get it?

From grocerys every week to outings at Monkey Joes. I'm also going to share good deals I find (ASAP so you have time to get them too :)). I'm pretty good at finding the best or cheapest price for something and anyone who knows me knows I'm obsessed with Amazon. (Need diapers?? Thats the ONLY place to go. Ask me about it.) To spice things up I'll add new recipes and update on what we have for dinner. (Given that it's not out of the freezer or I didn't cook it).  And overall, I'l just talk about life. What it's like being a wife and mother. Saving money but still doing/having everything you want.

So I know it's not the New Year yet, but why not get started early. I'l share tonights dinner.
We had ham for Christmas Eve dinner. Cost $15.00 and fed 6 people. Pretty good I think. But we ended up with about 1/4 of it left over. So I sliced it up and tossed it in the freezer. End the end, I knew it would just end up in the trash because we are not a 'left over' type of family but I gave myself the benifit of the doubt and couldn't justify throwing 'money' away. Well...while surfing the newest popular website Pinterest (if you havn't checked it out, your missing out!), I saw a recipe for some honey baked ham sandwiches that looked AMAZING. Well after clicking the recipe, the ingrediants didn't sound good to me so I didn't continue. But it did give me the idea. I changed up the cheese to use what we had and made my own sauce. So tonight we had 'Left Over Christmas Dinner": Ham sliders, mac & cheese, and green beans.

• Store bought dinner rolls or homemade.
• Ham
• Mozzerella Cheese (Or you can use any cheese you'd like.)
• Poppy seeds
• Onion powder
• 1/4 stick butter

1. Slice rolls
2. Slide block cheese/use sliced cheese
3. Place desired amount of ham and cheese on bottom buns then top with remaining bun.
4. Mix melted butter and 1/2 Tbsp poppy seeds. I also added a dash on onion powder.
5. Brush tops of sandwiches with butter.
6. Cover with foil and bake at 350* for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 2-3 minutes.
7. Enjoy :)