Homemade Dishwashing Detergent

Josh & I decided a little over a month ago that we wanted to do Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover.  We are sick of debt.  We bought our house and want to have it just the way we picture it in our heads.  Which will take A LOT of money.  I was spending $10 every 2/3 months on 90 Finish dishwashing tabs.  And that's at the local bargain store, NOT at the grocery store.  Not bad.  But I knew it could be better.  I'm on my third bucket of laundry detergent after a year of making it myself.  I found ingredients to make dishwashing tabs and got to work.  

I spent $11 on my things at Walmart.  I had the ice cube trays at home.  I made two batches, or 56 tabs this go around. 

You use:: 1 cup Kosher Salt, 1 Cup Washing Soda, 1 Cup Baking Soda & 3 Packets of Lemonade Mix.  Mix all of your ingredients into a bowl.  You CAN leave it as a powder OR add 1 cup of water, let it fizz and settle and mash the tabs into the ice cube tray.  Let the tabs dry and harden overnight before putting into the container of your choice.  I chose my now unused candy jar ;)  I have pictures of the process and end result below.  

I will keep you updated to see how far the boxes of soda and salt went.  I'm estimating that the detergent will be around $1.50 for a batch of 56 tabs. 

Homemade Chicken Quesadillas & Hot Salsa

Quesadillas are hands down one of mine & my husband's favorite foods.  But of course, cutting back on our grocery portion of our budget isn't going to allow us to splurge to go eat mexican anymore.  So this week, I got a rotisserie chicken to stretch out over two meals for us (I will also add that this was SUPER easy to make). I decided to try my hand at making homemade quesadillas.  I SUCCEEDED! My hubby loved these more than our local mexican restaurants! And it runs roughly $10 to make 6 of them =)

To make them, I used::

1-1/2 lbs rotisserie chicken
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 onion, diced
1  16 oz tub of goat cheese 
Flour Tortillas

Start by dicing all of your veggies.  Then put them in a frying pan with some EVOO on medium high heat to saute.  While your veggies are on, tear your rotisserie chicken & heat up your goat cheese.  When your veggies are done, make a thin layer of them across your tortilla.  Then make a layer of chicken on top.  And then add your cheese.  I also choose to pour cheese on top of my tortilla once i've folded it up (My name is Amanda & I'm a cheese addict.) Then enjoy ;)

I also made my hubby a tub of homemade hot salsa as an added bonus!

To make my salsa, I use::

1  12 oz jar of hot jalapeno slices, not pickled!

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 tbsp lime juice

1 tsp cumin

1 onion, diced

1 tbsp garlic

Add all of these in your blender, mix & enjoy ;)

Budgeting Progress

This was only a little bit of my groceries I managed to get today.  I went to Aldi & got all this for $20. I got sour cream, spinach, mini corn dogs, Jif to-go cups, 2 packs of flour tortillas, Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing, Baked Beans, 2 lbs onions, Cherry tomatoes, lettuce & a pack of diapers.  

I also went to Sam's and Walmart as well to get my meats & other groceries I needed for the week ahead.  I also got a rotisserie chicken to work for 2 meals, a 4 lb pack of boneless skinless breast, salmon, sausage biscuits for my princess, stuff to make ooey gooey bars, and other random things.  

I felt super accomplished when I got home and had all the groceries laid out from all 3 trips. Sticking to a $50 a week budget for my household may not be so hard after all.  And this all was with NO coupons!! 

Hopefully next week I can get pictures of my entire trip and do even better!

Success

Today I went to the grocery store to buy up stuff for a few meals this week.  I went with $50 cash in hand, rather than relying on my debit card like I normally do.  Usually, I get way too many groceries and spend way too much.  I had NO coupons (out of ink, story of my life). But I told my kids "No" several times & got out without going over =)  All this with meat, vegetables, cat and dog food.  I'm proud of myself.  Major accomplishment, maybe budgeting won't be a punishment after all ;)

Just wanted to give a mini update!

Our Black Friday Trip ;)

SO, Today My Baby Girl turned 2.  I will post her baby story later tonight/early tomorrow.  She decided she wanted to go "Black Friday" shopping tonight with me at Goody's.  I got $248 worth of stuff for $78!! I had 4 coupons for 25% off a single item & a $10 scratch off given to the first 50 people in line.  I took advantage of sales big time, bought mine & Kade's sweaters & my boots for our family pictures Saturday, and just some play clothes for the kiddos.  Not too shabby ;)