coming to grips...

This past summer has been somewhat challenging financially.
I am certain that God is stretching us as we try and remain faithful to the amount we pledged to the church for the stewardship campaign.
I happen to know that money troubles can be a huge strain on a relationship, so I'm using this challenge as a means to draw closer to Tim and not pull away or get caught up in the blame game.

We have discussed and crunched numbers...wondered how things happened and why things changed.  Some money issues have been ironed out as far as the paycheck goes, and we've further considered what kind of cost cutting we can do. 

There can be some things we can tighten up...but here's what most of the "problem" lies with:
Our family size.

Family of six. 
Duh.  We've been that for a year and a half.
...but now we're EATING like a family of 6.
You know yesterday we ate an entire pineapple.  6 people consumed the entire thing - and 3 of them are still under 30 lbs!
"Wait til they become teenagers..."
Yes, yes...  They will eat more.  We will again discuss, consider, then come to terms with the fact that we need to purchase more for them to eat.
I get it.  I understand.
But they AREN'T teenagers yet!  They're 1, 3, and 5 year olds! 
It's madness!
The casseroles I once made that could feed us (with some leftovers) are now being scraped (and sometimes licked) clean!  1 loaf of meat is just barely enough for my growing family.

I'm adjusting my recipes...adjusting portion sizes...so we must adjust our budget again.
Today I spent $170 at Aldis.
If you shop at Aldi you know how much that gets you - a ton! 
And all the while I put stuff in the cart (even while Sheppy threw it overboard) I thought "it's only a matter of time before we are a 2 shopping cart family." 
I laughed at the Duggar episode where they had like 7 carts all in a row...but now it's not as funny.
Perhaps we oughta get a pantry with stocked shelves for ourselves....... :)
......it'd also be nice to have teenage daughters to do all the cooking for me, but I digress.

We are 6 (almost 7).  We eat alot, and for that, we spend alot on food. 
Donations welcome. ;)  jk.  ...kinda.