The Pantry Challenge - I ACCEPT!!!

Money Saving Mom (my frugal hero) has a challenge she is doing to eat only from the pantry in the month of January 2010 and has encouraged us to join in. Well... I ACCEPT!

This is what I'm going to do -

1. Go to the grocery store no more than 3 times in the month of January.

2. Not spend more than $75 and try to only get the essentials.

3. Pay a little more in our fast offerings.

4. Blog here about what I do, and different things that I create just using the food I already have.

Here are some pictures of some of the food I already have (I have food stashed in other places too but I didn't think we needed to see every little thing) . I'll take some photos at the end of the month just to see how much we ended up using. This is a fun challenge for me as well as a way to get creative, save some money and use what we already have. As you can see my fridge is bursting at the seams and probably couldn't handle anymore anyway.

I did want to point out a truly AMAZING site that I just discovered tonight. This woman built up her food storage and then her family of seven had to live off of it for almost 2 years. She rarely goes shopping. I have never thought eating from food storage could be wonderful, amazing or delicious but she has proved me wrong. She has several beautiful and delicious recipes of food she makes from her storage. Check out HER SITE and be shocked and amazed.

P.S. Money Saving Mom has has a goal to pay for a house with 100% of it in cash. I've been following her this past year as she worked toward her goal and she finally met the 100% mark and will be buying her first home the beginning of this year. I literally shed a proud tear for her.

Easy Grout Cleaner

My bathtub is gross. Or I should say, was. The white grout collects mildew like you wouldn't believe especially in the humid climate we are in. I have scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed with little results. The other day I discovered a great solution -

Lysol 4-in-1 All Purpose Cleaner with Bleach

I just sprayed it all over the tile and that's it. I let it sit until the morning and all the grout was white again (so was the caulk)! Miracle! The tub itself still needs a good scrub but at least the grout is clean. So if you're at a loss with your grout try this.