Brigette's $68 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan for 6 and more...

Here's What's New Brigette's $68 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan for 6 Why I took a day {mostly} offline - in the middle of the week! Free Printable Spring Break Plans for Families 3 Things I ADD to My Life to Avoid Burnout :: Brigette's $68 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan for 6 Aldi 3-lb bag Mandarin Oranges - $2.37 Vanilla Ice Cream - $2.49 2 3-lb bags Fuji Apples - $4.74 32-oz jar Unsweetened Applesauce - $1.89 2 bunches Bananas (5.25lb @ $0.38/lb) - $1.99 5-lb bag Grapefruit - $1.95 1 head Cauliflower - $1.99 10-lb bag Potatoes - $3.49 1 3-lb bag Sweet Potatoes - $1.79 2 cans Green Beans - $0.98 Sliced Pepperoni - $2.19 Parmesan Cheese - $2.49 3-head pack Garlic - $0.79 Mini Sweet Peppers - $2.29 Organic Arugula - $0.89 Baby Carrots - $0.99 32-oz Nonfat Greek Yogurt - $3.69 2 Tomatoes - $1.49 2 24-oz Cottage Cheese - $4.58 Grape Tomatoes - $1.69 Artisan Lettuce - $1.99 Romaine Hearts - $1.99 Heavy Whipping Cream - $1.69 2 16-oz cartons Egg Whites - $3.98 1 pkg Rice Cakes - $1.29 1 Green Olives - $1.29 Total: $57.00 Harris Teeter 1 Family-Size box Honey Nut Cheerios - $2.64, used $0.75/1 printable (doubled) - $1.14 after coupon 6 Larabars - $6.00, used 2 $0.75/3 printable (doubled), plus receive $0.75 from SavingStar - $2.25/6 after coupons and rebate 4 boxes Muellers Elbow Pasta - $3.40, used 2 $1/2 printable - $1.40/4 after coupons 1 Huggies Wipes - $2.00, used $0.50/1 Huggies Wipes, exp. 3/26/16 (SS 02/28/16) (doubled), plus $0.50 evic - $0.50 after coupons 2 cans Dole Pineapple - $2.58, used $0.75/2 printable (doubled), plus $0.75 evic - $0.33 after coupons 3 Parmesan Cheese Blend (I just happened to notice these were marked down to $0.97 each! Of course, this was after the Aldi shopping trip where I had already gotten parmesan cheese :)) - $2.91 1 Dannon Light and Fit 4-pk Yogurt - $1.40, used $1 off (3) Dannon Light & Fit Greek Yogurt Single Serve Cups or (1) Multipack or Quart, exp. 3/31/16 (SS 02/21/16 R) - $0.40 after coupon 2 Sorrento Ricotta Cheese - $3.99, used 2 $1/1 printables, NLA - $1.99/2 after coupons Total after coupons and rebate: $11.06 Weekly Total: $68.06 Weekly Menu Plan Breakfasts Cereal x 2 Oatmeal with Fruit x 3 Toast, Scrambled Eggs/Veggie Omelettes x 2 Lunches Baked Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Almond Butter on Rice Cakes Build-Your-Own-Tossed Salad (Lettuce, Raw Veggies, Hard Boiled Eggs, Shredded Cheese, Nuts), Oranges Macaroni and Cheese, Peppers, Bananas Leftovers x 4 Dinners Venison Roast in the Crockpot, Roasted Carrots and Potatoes, Almost Famous Breadsticks Chicken Gravy over Rice, Steamed Broccoli, Homemade Applesauce Homemade Pepperoni Pizza, Italian Cheese Bread, Tossed Salad, Chocolate Sheet Cake and Ice Cream (Birthday Meal/Company Dinner - my baby is turning 2! Which makes me very happy and very sad all at once. :)) Barbequed Meatballs (I made this a couple of weeks back, and it is back by popular demand!), Homemade Macaroni and Cheese, Roasted Cauliflower Taco Salad, Homemade Yellow Rice Baked Potatoes topped with Ham, Shredded Cheese and Broccoli, Easy Whole Wheat Bread Leftovers :: Why I took a day {mostly} offline - in the middle of the week! Good morning! I took yesterday off from social media and was mostly offline, too. After a few full days with lots of projects and people, my soul was craving quiet. So I stayed offline most of the day, moved at a slow pace, spent one-on-one time with each of the kids/Jesse, met a new friend for lunch, took a walk, had another good friend over, and then we capped off the day by having a family movie night (we watched The Odd Life of Timothy Green. And I'm still not sure what I thought of it!) I've been asking myself a lot recently, "what does my soul need?" Then, I'm trying to be intentional about adding that into my day. It is making such a difference for me! It's Day #20 of the Go to Bed Early Challenge, but don't ask what time I went to bed last night, because I stayed up way too late. But it's Friday and I'm hoping to get somewhat back on track this weekend. How was YOUR day yesterday? What does your soul need today? P.S. Read more about the Go to Bed Early Challenge here. Need some help and inspiration to go to bed early so you can get up and use your mornings well? Download Day 1 of Make Over Your Mornings for free (scroll to the bottom of this page to sign up for it!) :: Free Printable Spring Break Plans for Families Download free printable Spring Break plans for families. :: 3 Things I ADD to My Life to Avoid Burnout When I read Breaking Busy by Alli Worthington awhile back, this quote she referenced by Christine Cane totally stopped me in my tracks: "You don't burn out doing the right things, you burn out because of what you don't do!" That statement got me thinking about the things I try to every day to avoid hitting burnout. Here are 3 things I came up with that I try to add into my day that make a big impact: 1. I Add in Time in God's Word & Prayer As a Christian, this is the number one thing I have found to keep me from hitting burnout. Spending time in God's Word and in prayer refreshes my spirit and fills my soul. My favorite studies are from She Reads Truth. I love their mission to encourage women to be in the Word of God every day. You can purchase their devotional journals or you can just sign up to get the daily emails with Scriptures and encouraging thoughts. {Read more about how She Reads Truth works here.} When the kids were little, I used to hide away in the bathroom and read The Daily Light. This is a compilation of topical Scriptures and it's so rich and encouraging. You can get it in whatever Bible translation you prefer. Are you in a busy season of life that makes it hard for you to commit a lot of time to read? Here are a few other options: Listen to the Bible on audio Download sermon podcasts (our church has their sermons available online or as a podcast) Turn on some praise music (I love the options available on Amazon Prime Music!) These are great ways to encourage your heart while you are cleaning or doing other mundane tasks. I also love to spend time in the morning praying over my day while I'm on the treadmill. I'll pray through the events of my day, ask God for wisdom in areas where I'm struggling, ask for God's blessing on projects I'm working on, pray for my husband and kids, pray for other needs, and spend time thanking God for Who He is and what He's doing in my life.  Taking the time to pray over my day and start my day with prayer lays such a great foundation for my day.  2. I Add in Time Connecting With Others We weren't created to live by ourselves or be loners. On the contrary, God designed us to need community. While hospitality used to be something I considered not my strong point at all, I'm getting better and better at it as I make it a priority and just open up our home and life to others. In this season of our life, we've been opening our home to friends almost daily and it's been a beautiful thing. I love being able to use our home to bless and encourage others and to just get to "do life" and be in everyday community with people we love. I find that I'm so filled up by doing this! A few other ways I seek to connect with friends each week: Our Monday Group - a group of families that we get to hang out with each Monday night just to talk, laugh, connect with, love on, and do life with. It's been one of the greatest blessings of moving here.  Spending intentional time with Jesse and our kids - just being together, learning together, laughing together, and loving life together.  Keeping up with friends through texting - it's a great way to let people know I'm praying for them, to hear how things are going, and to just stay involved in life - especially in long-distance relationships.  Getting together with girlfriends at least once or twice. I'm currently involved in a Wednesday night Bible Study with a group of local ladies and also usually have a coffee date with a friend at least a few times per month. 3. I Add in Time to Take Care of Yourself So many of us are guilty of running around all day taking care of everyone else, that we forget to take care of ourselves. When you neglect yourself, it is one of the fastest ways you can hit burn out. For me, taking time out for myself means doing things I love. Some of these things are: Scoping: I just love getting to interact live with many of you on Periscope every day. It truly energizes me in a great way. Writing: I love blogging - which is why I've stuck with it for so long!  Laughing: The other day, I shared a funny video that I found with Jesse. We just laughed and laughed about it. Laughter is so good for the soul! Coffee: What more need I say? I love me some good coffee in a cute mug! Quiet: I try to take a little time each day for quiet - whether that's reading something, taking a bath, or just driving somewhere by myself without the radio on. These are just a few of the things that I like doing for myself. Most of the things on this list don't require a lot of time, but investing a little time to make sure I'm doing things I love makes such a difference in helping me feel refreshed and renewed. What do you intentionally try to ADD to your life to avoid burnout? You received this email because you are registered on www.moneysavingmom.com with the email address panatllc1.kate@blogger.com. If you believe this has been sent to you in error, you can easily unsubscribe here. Money Saving Mom 2020 Fieldstone Parkway, Suite 900 #313 Franklin, TN 37069 © 2008-2015 Money Saving Mom, LLC. All rights reserved.