Empty.

Well we aren’t THAT empty, but close. Last babbly post I rambled something about Spaghetti quitting his video store job. It’s a great idea, and we are just using it as a crutch anyway. The job is taking it’s toll on him, and he is SO over working there.
Let me break it down, he works a full time job. It’s a good job, it pays ALL the bills, carries our insurance, and is THE job. Now we also have a seasonal job, that is Wrigley (yes the Chicago Cubs Wrigley field, he’s a vendor at a bar) that is great money, and only during baseball season. (we all know with the Cubs it’s not long) And then there is the video store… this job is year round. It’s about 5-15 hours a week, and it’s to cover food and gas.
Anyway, we’ve done a bit of money shuffling around, and it’s working out that we have more money coming in, SO the video store isn’t needed. BUT that being said I have a new job.
That being the food/budget police. Now I was before, but with out the luxury of the extra money coming in, I REALLY have to make this money work.
I have to say most people are amazed that I get $90 at Aldi (SUPER cheep store) to last me about 4 weeks. NOW that was not counting the weekly trips to the store (Jewel, WAY close but WAY more pricey) for milk, and eggs. So now I need to make this work, so it’s worth my while to drive the 15 minutes to Aldi, instead of 2 minutes to Jewel.
We also get NO McD’s, Taco Bell, Culvers (whimper) and with this hoping to drop a few pounds. I’m a simple cook, and I do cook well. It’s just the lazy factor in my job needs to go.
I buy pancake batter, and we eat from scratch, I also have a 80’s waffle maker so I make waffles in advance, freeze them, and wala. Breakfast. (just made 6 today, and these suckers are HUGE, like 6x6 huge) We like oatmeal too. And eggs are always a staple food around here. Scrambled eggs on a tortilla, and you pick out your sauce (Bagel loves honey, Weaky loves syrup, and Spaghetti and I have veggies and cheese sauce in ours)
Lunch is sandwiches. .99 for bread, and it’s either peanut butter and jelly, or bologna and cheese. Fancy you want? I’ll grill your sandwich and we can call it a Panini.
Dinner is meat, carb, veggie. We eat fish, chicken, and pork. Sometimes burgers but now I’ve gotten into a pork burger thing from the local Farmers Market, OMG they are good.
Snacks are fruit, granola bars, or crackers. We drink black coffee, or off brand of Crystal Light or water. No pop, Spaghetti is 1 year, 9 months and 11 days pop free (soda for some of you) or 649 days. So I figure if a guy who once drank a 12 pack of Coke a day could cold Turkey it, I could too. I tried once for New Years, did it for 3 months and went back. I stopped again on June 10th, and that makes me 23 days free!
We love it simple. Trying to BUY food then make food. So NOT buying the premade mashed potatoes, or the flakes in a bag (gross) I buy a 10 lb bag, peel, cut, boil, and mash. Nom. Nom.
I fight with Spaghetti each time. But I am NOT ashamed of going to food banks. Not the monthly ones. But there are ones that go to our town twice a year, and they give you food. He says it’s for the poor. Well sweetheart, I don’t know about you, but working 3 jobs to keep a roof over our house is pretty damn poor if you ask me. And yes that food is used.
I am thankful for my parents and Spaghetti’s parents. They usually buy the kids shoes, and clothes. My kids are the ONLY Grandchildren they will have, so spoiled is a given. If not from a store, I proudly support garage sales, thrift stores and second hand stores.
Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it sure as hell would make life a bit easier. I know people live with SO much less then I have, and I need to learn to work with what I have, we have to learn to go with out. Plan ahead and not waste. It’s a good thing for the family.
Biggest perk, we get Spaghetti home more often. August 20th is his last day there, and we can’t wait. (I will miss the perks of free videos, and new releases the week before they come out)
So much has changed this year, the BIG room shuffle around the house (making the Sports/Pool table room back into a family room, making the front tv room/toy room into a library, and the man cave in the basement is now a toy room) the flow of the house, is 100x’s better.
The loss of Maggie May is still heavy on our hearts, but with that comes the fact that the kids play more with Sophie, we save money on dog food, and bills, my sister is more comfortable coming over (Maggie would jump at her and at 78 lbs my 4’9” sister had a hard time being around her)
And now that Spaghetti will be down to 2 jobs. One full time one seasonal. I’ve already freaked, knowing that he’s quitting in August, and we have a family wedding to go to ($100) and the car sticker for the year ($105) yikes. But that’s what Wrigley is for. Big things.
And we just got Spaghetti a ‘Straight Talk’ phone from Walmart. No contract, no commitments. $30 a month, 1000 minutes, 1000 texts and well he doesn’t use the web on his cell. I’m still with Sprint till the end of September, and then I’m going to get one too. We have a land line so that saves us minutes. I only said I HAVE to have a phone with a QRTY keyboard, and they do have one by LG that I like. That will probably be my Christmas present.
Sure it’s tough, but we think if we just save, work hard. Budget and plan ahead we can get through anything. We do have a credit card, and it’s for emergencies. (Maggie was just shy of a grand for visits, and putting her down)
We’ve been fortunate in this craphole of an economy to have 3 jobs, when so many people don’t have one. But Spaghetti works hard, and he took jobs that require Holidays, and weekends. He’s done so much for our family. I think SO much of a persons credibility and who they are speaks for how hard they work.
Now I must go and pull EVERYTHING out of our freezer, organize it and start attempting ‘Meal Planning’ wish me good luck!
Feisty