Soak pinto beans overnight, drain, put in fresh water and cook all day. Make lots for leftovers, but use a big pot and watch that water!

In the evening, drain and set a few cups aside for one meal.

Add a can of tomato something, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and lots of salt to make chili. You can also add hamburger if you want to. We serve with chopped onion and shredded cheese. We have also enjoyed it in bread bowls that we made.

The next day, take the leftovers and smash them. If they are too juicy, run them through the food processor (the blade) and make refried beans to have as nachos with more cheese, onion, lettuce, sour cream.

The next night, have homemade pizza with sauce, any kind of cheese, and anything you can find to put on it, even if it’s just hamburger…or just cheese!

The next night, take the remainder of the smashed, seasoned beans and have burritos.

The next day, take out the beans that were set aside and add something tomatoey (my own word), but don’t make it runny, lots of salt, cumin and make some hush puppies or corn bread. Serve the beans over.

The following day, make up some macaroni. Throw all the leftover beans in with the drained macaroni then add cheese. If it needs thinning, ad a bit of water or tomato something. Wha la! Chilimac! To stretch it, make a bisquick topping and spread it over the whole thing.

Reuse the back of junk mail envelopes and the envelopes you remove bills from. I use the backs of them for my note paper to makes lists: Grocery lists, to do lists, or jot down things I need to remember. I never buy cute/fancy note pads, although I have been known to receive a few as gifts.

The “P” word! And you are wondering… oh no, is she going to start talk politics? Is it going to be more talk about Sarah Palin? Nahhh! I want to talk to you about price books. Yup… price books. What? You don’t know what a price book is? Get yourself a fresh cup of java and I’ll tell you all about it. It’s not too difficult, but I always like a good excuse to enjoy a cup of coffee with a friend.

A price book is a notebook of sorts, in which you write down each item you purchase and at what store. I also like to write down the cost per ounce so I can compare easily. You can categorize the book by store, product, or categories, such as cleaning items, canned foods, etc.

Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced Da cision), author of the Tightwad Gazette, gave me this idea and it has worked well.

The idea behind the price book is that you can accumulate the cost for each of your most common items, thus determining where the best prices can be found. When something is on sale, you will know if it really is a good deal. You eventually get a sense of what is good and what is not.  I have used it to create goals for how much I spend on meals. My goals might be $3 for each breakfast and $3 for each lunch and $9 for each dinner. Your mileage may vary. At least with a price sheet, you will know where your money is going.

Another aspect of using this price book is that you can see seasonal trends for items. Produce are not the only items that fluctuate in price for the season. Turkey, ham, potatoes are just a few items that fluctuate according to the season or time of year.  You will learn when the best time is to purchase these items. Stock up! Plan ahead!

I have provided this price book for you in a .pdf format for your own use. If you prefer it in Excel, which can also be opened in Open Office, click here. Feel free to print, copy, distribute. I simply as that you not remove the copyright information and website at the bottom of the page.

Other reading on the topic can be found at the following:

• The Dollar Stretcher
• Get Rich Slowly
• No Credit Needed

Wait, I’m not quite done, yet. There’s another part of this picture. I have found a great little free program, which installs quite easily, wherein I can take all my data and set it up on the computer. The program can is simply called Shopping List and can be found here.

This program allows you to put in all your grocery items by categories. I will add an item so that it will say, for example:
Eggs Albertson’s 5doz. $8.19
Eggs Costco 5doz. $7.79
Eggs Walmart 5doz. $8.22

In this way, I can compare at a glance and make my shopping trip according to where I can get the best prices.

After I have all my information in, I can drag the items I need to shop for into the right hand area, as you can see in the image. This is my master grocery list. When it prints, it will list everything, including prices and the locations to shop (as I just described), as well as the prices by category. Plus, it will calculate the total at the bottom, so I know what to expect to pay when I go out.

Happy planning and shopping!

The agenda today consists of … and not in any particular order:

• Coffee
• CTBHH chat
• Watering the yard
• Quiet time
• Wish my twins Happy Birthday!
• Finish getting our network hooked up to use SOS (Switched on Schoolhouse)
• Finish our MOTH schedule before school starts next week
• Attend a maquillage party, hosted by two of my daughters, Bethy and Anne
• Laundry

I admit it. I’m a list-maker. I like to make lists of what’s for dinner, l what I need to do today, what I need to pick up at the store, what I want to do in the future. You name it, I list it ~grin~

I wanted to share with you about Motivated Moms planners. I have heard of these before, but had not purchased it. I know… I’m cheap. $8 for a planner seemed like a lot. Ha! It really isn’t, though, at least not for this planner.  AND…. it’s half off because the year is half over! So, if you are interested in taking a peek at her other items, this may be the time to give them a spin. Then you’ll know if you want to go back and spend the extra $4 later.

She has check off boxes for daily and weekly tasks. They rotate week to week.  These are a great starter kit for anyone wanting to jump start their daily schedule.

Some items she has are:

• Full Size Planner
• Half Size PlannerFull Size Planner with Bible Reading Schedule (I wish I had tried this one out)
• Half Size Planner
• Half Size Planner with Bible Reading Schedule

Let me know if you end up purchasing one of these that I don’t have. I’d like to know what you think… or if you already have one that I don’t have, would love to hear.