thrifty thursday

Our dear Logan is doing so well with potty training. He stays dry at night and hasn't had any accidents since we first started last week. If only he could learn to poop on the potty without freaking out. He is a nervous, whiney, grumpy, fragile bull-dog right now because he has to poop and won't let it loose. I finally gave him an ultimatum- go sit on the potty or go to bed. He finally fell asleep while thinking about his choices.
like this























That's his tuna sandwich in the foreground that he refused to touch. He almost fell off the chair right before I scooped him up and put him in bed. There was no way I was waking the sleeping beast so we stayed quiet and my friend Li-Li picked up Jessie from school today. Thank you!

It's a few hours later and all is well with Logan's bowels, since inquiring minds want to know.

So back to the reason for the title. In our quest to become debt free as soon as possible I am really trying to find ways to tighten the budget. I have run across a lot of articles lately that give advice- especially with gas and food prices going up. Some of the things we have already done lately are; down-grade the cable (no more BYU-TV to watch General Conference so we'll just visit family those days), cut eating out to special occasions and no more than once a month. Dave and I both like to eat out with our family and alone, but we all know how fast that adds up. Learn to live with less. I can buy kids clothes at the Thrift Store (which I enjoy anyway) that look great. If Dave or I need clothes we go to the discount stores like Ross or Marshalls.

Some of the things I am going to start doing now that I know will help curb unnecessary purchases are; a). Shop with a list and don't stray from it. That one is going to be tough for me but I will do it and see the benefits. b). make up a menu for meals and shop with a list for those meals. This one is also going to be hard because I also shop sales to build up our food storage. I'm sure my system will be modified but I am trying to stick to a list for now. I also talked with Dave about changing the way we shop all together. In light of the spike in food prices, and the shortage of rice in our area right now, I am looking into purchasing staples on a yearly basis. I think I'm going to price things out and try to buy a year supply of one thing every other month (for now) so that we can have a surplus as our church has advised and be able to weather fluctuating food prices better.

Any other clever ideas to lower expenditures?