Amicalola / Tranquility / Nantahala In Bowling Green

It was like Christmas morning when I opened my local newspaper and found the Home & Lifestyle magazine featuring a version of the house we will be building in the fall.  The unmistakable bathroom of the Amicalola is featured on the front cover.  There are several other photos on the inside featuring the kitchen and lodge room.  It is BEAUTIFUL and it is in Bowling Green!
The link to the on-line magazine is below:

March/April 2014 - Bowling Green Daily News: Bg Home And Lifestyle

There are now three versions that I know of that have been built in Bowling Green, and that makes me ONE HAPPY GIRL!  Can't wait to (hopefully) visit some of these homes before we build.

Stockpiling versus Meal Planning

There was a time when I had enough toothpaste, body wash, canned mushroom soup and frozen peas to last two years.  I got on the couponing craze and converted part of my garage to a make-shift pantry. I swore by it.  I told all of my friends it was the way to go.  I never got to the point where I could get $200 of groceries for a few pennies, but I did get a whole lot of nonperishable items for free or nearly free.  And then, we moved.  To a very small house.  That had no garage.  Which meant no stockpile.  Which meant bye-bye crazy couponing.  I don't even have a pantry here, just 10 kitchen cabinets and a lazy susan to hold all my crap.
I spent the first few months we lived here just trying to use up all my boxed and canned goods.  Ugh!  I don't even like Hamburger Helper; I only bought it because I thought it was a good deal.  This really changed the way I thought about grocery shopping.  If I'm spending money, even if it's 50 cents, on something I really don't want or like, then am I really saving money?
I challenged myself with continuing to save as much money on groceries as I could but by ONLY buying what we needed, which meant planning our meals each week.
After several months of meal planning, I can tell you that this works so much better for me, my family, and my pocketbook.
Here's how I do it:

• Each Saturday or Sunday, I look at by calendar and decide which nights I will be home early enough to cook dinner.  Usually, that's two night.  So I plan two meals that will also provide us with some leftovers to either eat another night or take for my lunch at school.  
• Next, I plan my meals.  I used to spend hours scouring cookbooks (and loved it), but what I love better than that is finding recipes on Pinterest or other's Blogs and I ALWAYS pay attention to the reviews.  (One thing to note is that when buying large quantities of items that will spoil quickly, like potatoes, I try to choose recipes that enable me to use the whole bag, rather than just a few to cook with, for example, a roast.)
• Then, I make my grocery list, only putting things on the list that I know I will use THAT week.  

A couple of other things to note about Meal Planning:

• I rarely buy anything at Sam's Club anymore.  I always end up purchasing things I hadn't intended on purchasing.  However, one thing I ALWAYS buy there is the Daily Chef brand canned chicken.  I love having it on hand and it saves so much time on a busy night.  
• I now live in town so I have the time to shop at multiple stores.  
• I LOVE Aldi.  It's my first stop so I try to get as much there as I can.  You can't beat their fresh fruits and vegetables!
• I'll choose Wal-Mart over Kroger any day.  Unless you've got coupons for everything you're buying and the coupons can be doubled, Kroger will not save you that much money.  
• I'll not only choose Wal-Mart, but I'll choose Wal-Mart BRAND any day.  

I'll try to post some of my favorite recipes soon.  Again, I borrow and steal from lots of sites.  My cookbooks are just shelf-fillers now.  : - )