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Frugal Novice

American Express Prepaid Card – A New Budgeting Tool

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As the name of my blog might suggest, we’re always working on trying to live more frugally – sometimes more successfully than others! I will fully admit that when it comes to budgeting, we’re still working on it, even after almost 8 years of marriage. Through the years we’ve accumulated more bills, two dogs and two miniature people that add to our expenses.

We’ve tried several different options for budgeting, one of which is a well-known plan suggesting that people use envelopes for various spending categories. I love this idea in theory, but am not one to have cash on hand. And honestly, I don’t love the idea of carrying around a lot of cash with us at all times.

Then I discovered the American Express prepaid card, and the solution was right in front of me.

The card is a safe, easy way to manage spending, and it fits right in with our lifestyle of using debit cards for most purchases. There’s no need to carry cash – you can just load your desired amount on the card!  You can add money online or by phone, from a bank account or with cash.  You or the people you choose can use the card at millions of locations around the world: in stores, online and at ATMs, and then it’s incredibly simple to reload once you’re ready: You can reload your card as often as you wish either online or by phone. Plus, you and the people you choose can set up online accounts to check the card balance, view transactions and set up alerts.

I ordered one for us to use, and will be ordering another connected to the same account so that Brian and I can each have one on hand. We’re planning to use ours for our dining out and “fun” money each month, since that’s where we tend to go overboard on spending. It’ll be nice to know we have an allotted amount each month, but have a limit in place so we’re not able to go over each month. It’ll also make it easier for us to roll over any spending from month to month.

When it gets closer to the holidays, we’ll probably load gift money on the card as well. We love to shop for our family and friends, but it’s way too easy for us to get carried away and spend too much. This will keep us on track and make holiday finances much less stressful.

I love I can create an account online to monitor how much is left on the card, and that there’s protection against fraudulent activity. I can even sign up for email alerts if my balance is getting low! I can view my transaction history online as well, letting me keep track of where we’re spending money the most.

If you’re like us and are trying to make wiser choices when it comes to budgeting, the American Express Prepaid Card may be just what you’re looking for! This would also be a great way to provide your teenagers with spending money. It’s more secure than cash, you can see how they’re spending it, and you’re able to limit the amount they’re spending. There are so many possibilities for how this card could work to make your life easier!

How would you use the American Express Prepaid Card? What are your favorite budgeting tips? I’d love to hear from you!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of American Express and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Menu Plan Monday Sept 5-9

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Menu Plan Monday

I love holiday weekends! We’ve had a fun weekend so far and it’s not even over yet. Saturday we were pretty productive around the house, doing what felt like a million loads of laundry, but we were also able to fit in some fun things too. We went out and got part of J’s big kid bed – the mattress and bedding. We’ll get a frame soon, but for now he’ll sleep on the mattress on the floor. I’ll tell you more about his bedding and plans for the boys’ room in an upcoming post – there’s an element I’m especially excited about and can’t wait to show you!

Today was a great day – church, lunch and games with friends, a get together with our small group, and then we ended the day with a walk… because it was actually COOL yesterday! It felt amazing after almost three months of triple-digit weather – the temps were in the 80’s during the day and in the upper 70’s when we went for our walk.

Tomorrow we’re planning to go on a bike ride at the park, hang out around the house, and then meet our friends at the park for grilling out and letting the kids play.

I ate well on Saturday but slipped up a little today! Saturday I had a cheese stick for 90 calories for breakfast, peanut butter toast for 350 calories for lunch, and a chicken strip kids meal from Sonic for 330 calories for dinner. I also had three chocolate chip cookies for 260 calories. Total calories for Saturday were 1,030. A little low, but probably a good thing considering how I ate today!

I had a cinnamon cake for 150 calories for breakfast – not too bad! For lunch we met our friends at Carino’s. I looked up what I could eat ahead of time, so I ate part of a Caesar salad and part of a pasta dish – angel hair pasta with spicy marinara. This totaled 376 calories. I ate bread too, though, adding another 200 calories. They didn’t include their bread on their nutritional chart, so I guessed on calories and probably ate more than I should have. C got to have a mini chocolate cake and I let myself have a couple of bites of that, for around 70 calories. This brings my total for the day so far to 746 calories. Then we had friends over for games and I ate some baked tortilla chips with salsa for 150 calories plus four chocolate chip cookies for 344 calories. Horrible, right?! The worst thing to me is that in the past I snacked like that all. the. time and thought nothing of it. For dinner I ate a taco for a total of 260 calories. This brings my total calories for today to 1,500. Walking two miles burned about 200 calories, so I ended up not being too far over, but I felt awful after eating so much. It was definitely a wake up call that eating less is so much better for me.

Menu plan time! I am starting back on Freshology tomorrow, on the Silver plan – I’m so ready! I know what I’ll be having each day so I can share my dinner plans along with what the boys will be eating. I’ll still be posting daily and will include breakfast and lunch info there.

Monday: Chicken Paillard with Fire roasted Spanish Rice for me. The guys will be having hot dogs and baked beans along with our friends.

Tuesday: Cilantro Crusted Tilapia with Salsa Verde is on my plan, but I don’t like seafood at all. Brian will eat this and I’ll eat something comparable in calories.The boys are going to have chicken and veggies.

Wednesday: I’m teaching a class and it will be a really rushed evening, so the boys are going to pick up Wendy’s to eat. I’ll be eating Turkey Meatloaf with Tomato Sauce. Not going to lie, I’m a little nervous about meatloaf, but I trust Freshology to make pretty much anything taste good!

Thursday: I’ll be eating Eggplant Parmesan Pasta, and the boys will be eating whole-wheat penne with pasta sauce and lean ground beef, along with a carrot and broccoli blend.

Friday: Braised Beef with Brussels Sprouts and Red Quinoa for me, and leftovers for the guys.

Hope you all have a great week! Be sure and check out my video update below to find out how much weight I’ve lost to this point, and what my goal is for the next four weeks while on the Silver plan!

On My Own

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I’ve got to say, after being on Freshology for four weeks it has been WEIRD being on my own for making food choices – it’s nice knowing that I get to go back to their meals soon. It’s been a great learning opportunity for me, though, which is what I was really hoping for with this.

Yesterday (Thursday) I skipped breakfast. Bad, right? I was so hungry all morning! I drank a lot of water (with a wedge of lime in it, my new favorite) and that helped me last until lunch time. I met my friends at Jason’s Deli, and here’s what I had:

Lunch:

   

  • Build-your-own-sandwich (1/2) with french bread, turkey, mustard and lettuce – 173 calories
  • Cup of southwestern chicken chili – 116 calories
  • Organic tortilla chips with salsa – 220 calories (totally a splurge but soooo good)
  • Cranberry walnut mix – 107 calories (my treat to myself since I did skip out on free ice cream)

Total Calories: 616

That’d be too much if I had eaten breakfast too, but since I didn’t it actually worked out okay. Plus, I walked 1.5 miles yesterday morning, burning about 150 calories, so that makes a difference too.

Dinner:

Brian made a chicken stir fry for dinner using no butter or olive oil, and making it a really healthy option. He used this recipe, if you’d like to try it for yourself. The recipe says there are 1,224 calories in the entire dish, and I had about 1/8 of it, for about 153 calories. I also had a cup of white rice for 205 calories, making dinner a total of 358 calories.

Dessert:

Lemon Cake. Brian had gone to the store, and I asked him to make sure and choose a dessert with nutritional value so I could figure out how much I could have. I cut it into 8 pieces and then cut one of those in half, making it worth 136 calories. I also ate 3 Hershey’s Aerated Kisses, for 60 calories.

Total Calories for Thursday: 1,170 (minus 150 calories burned with exercise)

I meant to keep my total number around 1,200, including factoring in calories burned, so I was a little under my target.

*************

So, today I still hadn’t had the time to figure out a truly good breakfast option. I grabbed two cheese sticks and a cup of natural (no sugar added) applesauce, for a total of 230 calories. Not the best breakfast ever, but it was filling enough.

Lunch time rolled around, and I ate with my boss. At Red Robin. Yeah, the burger place. I was a little nervous about this one, because it would be easy to go crazy with calories here! I wasn’t perfect… we did split my favorite burger, the Bleu Ribbon Burger. 1/2 of the burger alone was 500 calories. I ate a few french fries too, leaving most behind, but that still added about 150 calories to my lunch total, meaning I had now used up 880 calories for the day, leaving me with about 320-420 calories left for the day… and really meaning I needed to get in some exercise! I have to add, Red Robin has the best mobile app I’ve seen in a long time. You’re able to find out nutritional information and even sub out different ingredients to see how it affects calories, fat, etc. It’s dynamic and easy to use, and really helpful.

Dinner:

  

We needed to go out and run a few errands, so we went to Rosa’s, a semi-fast food Mexican restaurant. I looked up their nutritional values before we left the house to figure out what I could eat. I had a bean & cheese tostada for 220 calories, and part of an order of kids’ nachos for 225 calories. This brought my total for dinner to 445 calories.

Total calories for Friday: 1,320

I’ve learned even in just these two days how much I appreciate the convenience of Freshology planning out my meals for the day. It’s very cut and dry when I’m on Freshology – I eat the food they give me. When I’m planning my own meals, there are a couple of problems:

  • It could be easy to be off in counting up calories for the day.
  • If I want variety, that means buying a LOT of groceries in order to be able to achieve that.
  • Eating out is a challenge. I have to plan beforehand because it’d be awkward to sit out in a restaurant Googling calorie values and adding things up.
  • It is really easy to let meal planning fall to the bottom of my priority list when I have so many other things to take care of too.

I can tell a big difference in my attempts to eat less, though. Before Freshology it was a huge challenge. I would crave snacks and sweets all the time. I wanted soda or sweet tea at meals or even just to get me throughout the day. I don’t have the cravings I used to have, and that alone is freeing!

I’ll post again Sunday with my update for Saturday and Sunday meals, and I’ll share my video update with you then, right before I start the Silver plan on Monday. I decided to go ahead and fall into a routine for this next month, and I’ll start doing my videos on Sundays. With the Silver plan, I get a week’s worth of meals at a time, so I can also share with you what I’ll be eating all week.

Hope you all have a great (long!) weekend!

 

Chuck E Cheese Winners – THREE!

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I always love giveaways with multiple winners. I hope all three of you enjoy a fun family outing to Chuck E. Cheese!

Congratulations to…

Friendly Friday September 2

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Welcome to Friendly Friday! Friendly Friday begins at 8pm Central Thursday nights each week. We hope you’ll come back and join us again next week – and remember, the earlier you link up, the higher up on the list you are!

Remember, YOU can host the link list on your blog, too! Just get the InLinkz code and copy it directly into your post. The code is different every week, so be sure to get the new code when hosting Friendly Friday on your blog. Hosting the list is a great way to get even more traffic to your blog and make Friendly Friday more beneficial for everyone.

Thanks for joining the Friendly Friday celebration hosted by Christi at Frugal Novice, Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier and Charla at Healthy Home Blog! We invite you to join us every Friday to make more friends in blogville, get more blog followers and follow other great blogs out there.

To join in the Friendly Friday celebration, include your family-friendly link in our list, follow the hostesses in the first 3 spots and then start blog hopping! Visit other blogs on the list and comment to give them some blog love. Then take a minute to follow them through Google Friend Connect – this is a good way to keep up with other blogs, but also lets us show support to each other! Please DO NOT list your giveaways here, links must be to either your homepage or your Friday posting with your blog title. All others will be deleted.

When people comment on your blog and let you know they’re a part of Friendly Friday, return the favor and follow them back. This way everyone gets traffic and followers out of participating, and it’s a win-win situation. We would love for you to also grab our Friendly Friday button and post it on your blog and/or in a post – the more bloggers that find out about Friendly Friday and participate, the better!

Spotlight on Friendly Friday Followers! We love your participation and want to show it! In addition to gaining followers, each week we’ll select one blog at random and will feature links and a write-up for that blog in the content of next week’s Friendly Friday post. There are so many seriously wonderful blogs out there, and this will be a great way to highlight one of those each week. Say hello to the lucky chosen blog & blogger for this week (and feel free to stop by and give her a little extra love):

Aleisha (known to her zany and adorable nearly-five-year-old as “Mama Leisha”) is a wife and mother of two who has to depend on Diet Coke with a slice of lime to get through the “crayon on the walls, apple juice spilled on the floors, laundry piled as tall as Everest, toilet clogged with Fisher Price ‘Little People'” kind of days. But even so? She knows she is completely blessed to have the life that she does and is happy to share it with her readers. Stop by She Calls Me “Mama Leisha” and say hello… and be sure to check out the Quips tab – her daughter will crack you up!

Now that you know about this wonderful blog, it’s time for you to join in! Add your family-friendly link below and we’ll see you back here every Friday! And don’t forget, you can <get the InLinkz code to share Friendly Friday on your blog!

All three hostesses appreciate followers through GFC and Twitter, and we’ll follow you back – be sure to leave a comment with your URL and/or Twitter username. Hope everyone has a great weekend!



End of the Golden Era

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Otherwise known as my last day on the Gold plan from Freshology! I have loved eating their food this past month and am so excited to continue on the Silver plan this next month. My meals arrive tomorrow and I’ve decided to start them on Monday so it’ll be easier to keep track of the start of the week. This means I have four days in between the Gold and Silver plans. I’ve decided to use these days to see if I can incorporate some lessons I’ve learned while on Freshology. I’ll still be tracking what I eat and how many calories are involved. And tomorrow I’ll still be doing a video update, so be sure and check in to find out how much I’ve lost this week.

Breakfast: Banana Raisin Muffin with Fresh Fruit, Cream Cheese and Turkey Bacon (390 calories)

Such a great breakfast to end with! The muffin was great – I ate the bottom half first because everyone knows the muffin top is the best (you Seinfeld fans know!) and I didn’t even end up eating the cream cheese. I loved having the orange, too – it’s almost like getting a little fresh-squeezed OJ.

Lunch: Southwest Chicken & Vegetable Soup with Side Caesar Salad (280 calories)

I love this soup – it’s another one that I’d choose to eat any day. It feels like a lot of food, too – especially with the salad on the side. The flavors were spicy and there were tons of veggies and chicken pieces in the bowl. It was a nice touch having the beans added to the salad, because it gave it more substance and seemed to tie the salad in to the Southwestern soup well.

Dinner: Whole Grain Mustard Crusted Pork Loin with Green Beans and Butternut Squash (280 calories)

I couldn’t get over how MUCH food I got for just 280 calories with this meal! The pork was pretty good (but we all know I’m not a huge fan of it in general). The veggies were great! The green beans were slightly al dente and had an almost buttery taste to them. The butternut squash was sweet and delicious.

Dessert: Dark Chocolate Caramel Cookies (200 calories)

These cookies were good but were so little, especially for 200 calories! It was crazy to me to look at my plate full of dinner and realize that I could get alllllll of that for just 80 calories more than two small cookies. Still, they were delicious, rich treats and I probably couldn’t have eaten much more than the portion provided. I heated them in the microwave for 10 seconds and they almost melted in my mouth!

Be sure and check back tomorrow for my video wrap-up. Can’t wait to share my final thoughts on the Gold plan and talk a little about the Silver plan I’m about to begin!

Freshology Gold Plan Giveaway Winner!

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Thanks so much to everyone who entered – we had a great response! If you’re not the lucky name I’m about to share, be sure and pay attention to Freshology’s Facebook page, because they’ll share any deals and discounts there!

Let’s find out who the winner is……

Congratulations, Yona! I’ve passed your email address on to the people at Freshology, and they’ll be getting in touch with you to set up your delivery.

Wordless Wednesday: A Day in the Life of a Puppy

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Sleeping:

Playing with friends:

Chilling out:

Sounds like a perfect day to me!

A Second Opinion

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I can’t wait to update you on my weight loss tomorrow, because this has been a good week! For now, though, I’m checking in with a post to tell you about Tuesday’s meals. I’m sure you’re wondering about the title of the post – I’ll explain here in just a minute.

Breakfast: Feta and English Pea Frittata with Fresh Fruit and Chicken Apple Sausage (300 calories)

I had mixed emotions about the frittata prior to eating it. On one hand, I love feta cheese. On the other, I hate peas. What’s a girl to do? Well, give it a try, for one thing. And I liked it! The flavor of the cheese kind of masked the peas to me, and I really enjoyed it. I was happy to get some strawberries, too, because those are one of my favorite fruits.

Lunch: Grilled Vietnamese Beef Noodle Bowl (300 calories)

Here’s where the “second opinion” comes into play. I had tried a Vietnamese Noodle Bowl a while back, and it wasn’t really my cup of tea. So, I ate a lunch that equaled 300 calories and let Brian try this to give his opinion, since it sounded like something he’d like. He had to work through lunch and ate it up at his office, but he sent me the photo above and then this one shortly after:

Along with a text saying, “Verdict: Awesome!” He said he thought it was great and that he could eat this meal day in and day out. It didn’t seem like a “diet” meal to him at all. He’s a much more adventurous eater than I am, so he’s always a great person to get food feedback from.

Dinner: Citrus Lavender Glazed Chicken with Vegetable Ragout & Brown Jasmine Rice (390 calories)

I enjoyed this meal; at first I wasn’t sure about the lavender element of it, but combined with the citrus flavor it was nicely balanced and made for a great chicken dish. The ragout was filled with tender veggies and I especially loved the zucchini. I knew I’d like the rice, because we’ve tried Jasmine rice before and loved it! This felt like a step up from a meal we might normally have in our house – it had the basic elements, but dressed them up with another layer of flavor.

Dessert: Peach Cobbler (170 calories)

I heated this up in the microwave for 15 seconds, then broke up the breading and mixed it with the peach filling – YUM! I would’ve liked a little granola or something to provide some crunch, but overall it was a great dessert.

Today is my last day on the Gold plan! Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for your chance to try three days of the Gold plan for yourself – it ends today at 2pm Central/12pm Eastern!

Crazy Day

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Have I mentioned before that I’m an emotional eater? ‘Cause I am – or used to be, anyway. If I had a bad day, I’d treat myself to something. If I had a great day, I’d celebrate with something. Either way, bad idea, right?

Well, yesterday was insanely busy. First of all, it was a Monday. If you like Mondays, I’m happy for you – but for me there’s always a bit of an adjustment back into work mode. Our weekends are good, but almost always busy, so it’s not like we’re ever really starting off the work week refreshed and energized. So, I worked on my projects on work, ran across town at lunch to let the dogs out, came back, worked some more. I needed to get home quickly so I could get ready to teach my online class that started at 6. Being in a rush should have clued me in as to how things would go. When I was heading to pick up the boys I remembered my empty light was on, so had to stop & get gas. Then when I got to the day care, I had to trek back out to the car to get my ID since there are new teachers. I’m really glad they’re cautious, but yesterday was just bad timing. Then, we get home and Josie (our 7-year-old mini dachshund) had gotten into the bathroom trash and made a huge mess. All in all, not the worst day ever but in the past I would’ve used it as a reason to go get ice cream, or to make cookies.

That didn’t happen, though, and to me it was a sign of overcoming a big hurdle towards a healthier lifestyle. I ate my Freshology food like normal and decompressed after the class was over by relaxing on the couch with Brian and some good old HGTV. I am seeing results by eating healthier, and the desire for that is finally outweighing the short-term want for comfort food.

Breakfast: Sweet Corn Tamale with Canadian Bacon and Fresh Fruit (220 calories)

This was one of the rare instances where the meal seemed to get jostled a bit in transit and had a messy look to it. Everything tasted really good, although there didn’t seem to be much of the actual tamale filling – probably because of all the carbs. I liked this meal, but it wasn’t as filling as some of the breakfasts I’ve had on Freshology. I still didn’t end up feeling hungry until around lunchtime though, so it was plenty.

Lunch: Basil Marinated Chicken Salad with Mango, Watermelon Radish and Orange Dressing (350 calories)

This is another salad where I ate the components separately. It felt like a lot of food that way, and it was easier to eat it neatly that way than if I’d tried to toss the elements together in the tray. The dressing was nice and light and a good compliment to the spinach. The chicken that’s been in my salads has all seemed to be basil marinated, which is the way to go because I love the flavor! Having chicken with my salads while on Freshology has inspired me. Instead of eating grilled chicken leftovers the same way we ate them the first time around, I could dice it up, add some sauce and throw it in the fridge to use with a salad the next day. And I am totally going to start using lemon juice on all my salads – SO good!

Dinner: Rosemary Scented Lamb Sirloin with Baby Carrots, Sauteed Broccolini & Balsamic Glaze (490 calories)

I have only had lamb once or twice before, and it’s always been a protein I’ve been a little hesitant about just because it’s different. I was really impressed with this and have decided I actually like lamb! My friend asked me if it was gamey at all, but it really wasn’t. The flavor was mild and I could really taste the rosemary coming through. The glaze on the broccolini was nice, although I still like broccoli better! The carrots were perfect – and C loved them too because he snagged one to eat for his bedtime snack, since I had to eat late after my class was finished.

Dessert: Carrot Bundt Cake with Creme Cheese Frosting (150 calories)

Like the other desserts, I’ve had this one before, and like the other desserts, I love it! I had a small cup of skim milk to go with it.

Don’t forget – YOU could try Freshology for free, if you win my giveaway! Take a second to enter – the winner gets three days of food, a value of $169!

Giveaway at Wholesome Chick

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Have you ever heard of solid shampoo before? Well, a great new blog called Wholesome Chick is hosting their first giveaway for solid shampoo from Lush.

It’s vegan, using natural ingredients to make your hair soft and silky. I’m really intrigued to try it and am going to go enter the giveaway myself – you should, too!

Teacher Monday & Del Monte Giveaway – Over $100 in Prizes!

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This fall Del Monte Fresh will hold its second annual online contest, “Teacher Monday: Cash for Classrooms.” The program awards cash and fresh fruit to kindergarten thru 12th grade school teachers across North America to encourage them to incorporate healthy eating and living messages into classroom activities. Sixty teachers will win a total of $1,000 in cash to purchase school supplies and fresh fruit for their students. Top winners will also get a Del Monte Fresh Field Day event for their school in which the entire student body will enjoy a day of Del Monte fresh fruit, games and fun activities. Salad bars for schools will also be given away through promotions at supermarkets.  Go to www.fruits.com for more details!

Find out more about Teacher Monday in this adorable video:

This giveaway will have FIVE winners! Four lucky readers will each win $25 to get Del Monte fresh fruits:

And one reader will win a backpack full of school supplies to give their favorite teacher!

This contest is open to all US residents. Entries will be accepted until the end of the day (midnight Central) Wednesday, September 14.

Mandatory Entry: Comment below telling me who the most influential teacher in your life or your child’s life has been.

(Only valid after the required entry has been completed)

Please leave a comment for each extra entry – if you blog about this giveaway and get 2 entries, for example, comment 2 times.

Note: I was provided with a Guest Pass for the review, along with three Guest Passes for the giveaway. All opinions provided are honest, and are those of myself and my family.