Reusable snack/lunch bags

With my daughter being in first grade and taking home lunch every day I wanted to find some good reusable bags.  Even though we do reuse ziplocks as well.  I have made a post on that a long time ago.  So I found some on Jane.com  a terrible website that has so many good things I have to stop myself from looking at it everyday.    

They had the sandwich size and a snack size.  It came in a pack of two each.  I like them but they are really stiff and hard plastic of some sort.  They function but I wasn't sold on them. 

Then I am part of a group that does monthly buys from a place called frontier.  They have a lot of natural things.  I have loved ordering from them.  We get a better price when we order as a group.    I found some on there and I bought a set a few months ago and have loved them. They are more silicone feeling and easier to work with. 

I have liked them so much I just ordered a bunch more of them for using for the other kids snacks and stuff in the car and when they want a bag of pretzels.  I also found they had a large size one that is like a gallon size ziplock so I will see how that one works out.  

I would like to not have to buy the ziplocks at all anymore.  

I would still have some on hand for meats and stuff like that I don't like to mess with that.  

They had some really cute patterns that the kids love.  I am loving how the ones I got a few months ago have held up they don't show any signs of wear.  

The first ones I got from Jane are a little worn and I don't think will last very long compared to these.  The brand on the good ones are Full circle.  

This is a picture of the bottom of the snack size it has a pretty wide base for a small bag and I am amazed at what I can fit in their.  The sandwich bags don't have the pleated bottom so they are more for just sandwiches or flat things.  

The large gallon ziplock one has the pleat thing.   I love them and the kids love picking the fun designs out.  I love to be saving in one more way.  Highly recommended.  

No spend month

We love Dave Ramsey here and we listen to it a lot.  We follow a lot of his advice and things in his book.  We don't do the cash envelope system. I"m sure it would benefit us but we just aren't that into it.  I hate carrying cash around.  I have gone through phases of keeping track of our money.  Not really a budget but seeing where our money goes helps me to spend less or adjust my spending.  I use an excel spread sheet.  Within the last few years I started using Mint.com and I have liked that it brings in the info from our bank accounts and I can sort them into which category they go in.  I am amazed at where our money goes. Even when I think I"m being so good it still finds places to go.

So I am determined to be better I have heard of doing a no spend week or month.  I am going to see how far I can do it.  I have most of christmas shopping done just a few things left for grandparents and stuff, but the kids are all done.  So I want to do it in dec.
Another motivation to do it is to clean our our pantry, freezer and actually use a lot of our canned food I have made.  I want to use it up and make sure we don't have food going bad in our pantry.
I found a can of evaporated milk in my cupboard yesterday it EXPIRED in 2007!!!  Now when did I have to buy that for it to expire in 07?  I don't even know obviously I don't use evaporated milk often enough to have it in my cupboard.  Things like that. I know I have some ravioli that expired this year and I feel like its still find to eat.  But it needs to be done soon.  So that is part of this no spend month.  I want to use up a bunch of stuff I have in the freezer, help clean things out.

I really really think I can do it if I put my mind to it and really use some self control.  Its only a month.  If I really need or most likely want It can wait for a month right?  think about it, research it for a month and then buy it if I still want it after that long.   I am an impulse buyer and I feel like its gotten a little crazy lately so this will put a  stop to it.  This is for my accountability.

Reading El Libro de Mormon

I finished reading the book of mormon recently and so it was time to start again.  I used to read it in spanish every other time I would read it and maybe its just been that long since I finished it.  It seems like its been years since I read it in spanish though.  I think it was maybe 2011.  Anyways I decided that I really wanted to do it.  So I started reading in spanish, I was reading out loud and it was taking forever but it was good.  Then I started listening to my gospel library in spanish its much better. Especially because I am trying to read it by the end of the year and I started about the first of November.  So in two months.  I decided I could use the reading help.

 I won't lie I have been lacking on my dedication to reading my scriptures daily.  I can't do it in the morning because I work until the kids wake up and then its get the kids to school and preschool.  Then the day just gets away from you.  Night is hard because I am just so tired by then.  I can come up with a million excuses.   I shouldn't because I remember thinking on my mission  how can people not spend time reading everyday?  How do you stop reading them?   well I know now.... I am that person.  So this has been a good kick in my pants to get me launched back into it.  I get my daughter off to school and then while Max is doing his preschool I take that time to read.   I have made it a priority, and I can tell the difference.  I need to make that a life long goal.

I love that when I read it in spanish I get different things out of the same book.  It just means something different.  Or you perceive it differently, that is one reason I like to switch reading english and spanish.  I don't know why but some songs are better in spanish too.

Another part I like to have it a chart.  It helps me see how far I need to go and how far I have come.  I am a list maker so this is so fun for me.   I also like to color how much I read each day with a different color so I can look back and see some days I really had a lot of time to read and some half a chapter.  Its great.  We started this chart with all of the beehives in our young women.  So we all have a chart together but going at different rates.  Its fun to do things as a group.