E-Mealz

Pssst...I want to let you in on a cool little secret.

First, a little background. One day I told Eric I wanted to start eating healthier...not a new year's resolution, not a diet, just healthier. Eric quickly agreed and suggested a program he heard Dave Ramsey recommend over the radio, E-mealz. I later learned that he had been wanting to propose this idea to me for a while, not for health reasons, but for budget reasons. He was just hesitant to mention it because he knew it meant I would be doing all of the work.

Admittedly, it's not the health makeover I was looking for, but it is a clever little meal program, and they have several different meal plan options for various family sizes and needs. See image below.

Eric and I are doing the low-fat Wal-Mart meal plan for 2, and so far we've been really happy with it. It does cost $5/mo, but if it does as it claims, it should still save us a decent chunk of money. It's tough to judge this early, but it seems promising. If anything, we'll just do it for a few months and rotate through the menus that we collect.

The meals are fast and easy to make. I enjoy cooking, but don't do it much. There was always an excuse - working late, missing ingredients, picky eater husband, etc. The great thing about this program is having your whole week laid out for you. In fact, the grocery list even lists the items with prices and organized by grocery sections! Genius. See samples below.

Nice, right? Eric, of course, loves it because suddenly I'm cooking dinner for him every night. We've tried to be brave too and at least try every meal whether it sounds good or not, and we really haven't disliked a meal yet. In fact, neither of us thought we liked salmon, but one of our favorite recipes was a zucchini salmon bake (revised a little bit with the help of martha stewart).

It's a fun little challenge for Eric and I to split up the grocery list and try and track down items we've never had or even heard of before - couscous, liquid smoke, bok choy, various obscure seasonings, etc.

Not sure how long we will keep it up, but so far, so good.

Healthy, (Not-so-Wealthy), and Wise

(Eric F. Nelson, contributed to this post. :)
We must be getting old because we suddenly find ourselves clipping coupons, counting calories, budgeting, breaking out the calculator at the grocery store, and eating our daily dose of dietary fiber. But, judging by the fact that we’ve practically started an Ebay/Craigslist business, perhaps we’re also getting a bit younger.

eBay/Craigslist
During this past month, Eric and I cleaned out the cobwebs of our lives. Literally. During our two-years in Saipan, all of our belongings were in a cramped, musty storage unit in Emmett. When we finally loaded it all up and unpacked it in our new home, we decided we missed the simple life in Saipan. So we decided to see if anybody else would find our trash to be their newfound treasure. During the last month, we have sold the following items online:

6-year-old furniture set for $800

6-year-old microwave (wedding gift, never used) for $40

Plus, Eric has been on a Ebay binge. He now has 14 active items up for bid. He’s already sold almost $300 worth of old law school books, flash cards, and study aids.

Coupon Clipping/Budgeting
Of course, we’re not the only ones selling our things online. Eric and I have found a couple of great deals on Craigslist. We recently bought a brand new queen-sized bed (still in the plastic) for our guest room at a fraction of the retail price.

I'm learning that coupons are a wonderful thing. Plus, we’re eating out less, and when we do, we look for the discounts. Recently, we’ve used certificates from Restaurant.com and Boise Deals/CitySmart.com (50-80% discounts).

Eric and I are also trying to keep closer tabs on our spending with budgeting software. Eric’s been tracking and categorizing every transaction we have through budgeting software. It’s nice to categorize our purchases and see where we need to cut back.

We're also paying closer attention to unit pricing at the grocery store. That way we can compare apples to apples (pardon the pun) in determining which particular product is the best value.

I’m also trying to “re-purpose.” I wanted a headboard for our guestroom, but I didn't want to fork out the cash. So I got an idea. We had two extra cabinet doors from our entertainment unit so I'm going to test my skills and see if I can make them into a headboard.

Health
Eric and I bought gym memberships at the end of October and have been exercising at least twice a week. It's nice to be in a routine. Plus, it helps us eat healthier. We’re still not the healthiest eaters, but we’ve been trying to replace the fast food/junk food with more fruits and veggies! Each morning we eat our fiberrific cereal, and we’re even choosing fruit smoothies over ice cream.