Butcher Shops are they worth It?

Butcher Shops are they worth it? When you go grocery shopping, what is the most expensive thing you buy? (Meat).  Our grocery bill is much cheaper when I buy my meat from a Butcher shop. Meat in the store is so expensive and the quality is not as good. So today I am going to show you how I save a bundle of money by buying from a Butcher shop.

Let’s start with beef, I good pound of ground- chuck can go for over $4.00 dollars a pound in the grocery store. Don’t even look at the steaks prices, they make me cry. Beef is very expensive in the grocery stores. Here’s how I save a bundle on beef. Call around to your local Butcher shops and compare prices. Our family goes to Becks Meats out of Kaukauna. We order ¼ to ½ of a steer at a time and save big time. The price for all the cuts of beef are $2.99 a pound plus this includes butchering and wrapping. Now I can have my steak and not cry. If you are a single person and you don’t want that much meat at a time, ask a friend or family member to split the cost of the meat. Just by ordering a bigger amount of meat up front can save you a lot of money. The meat is much leaner and healthier for you.

Next, let’s talk about pork. A good pound of bacon can cost you over $3.00 dollars a pound. Look at a good pork roast or ham around the holidays and I just get sticker shock. Not any more, I go to Becks Meat Market in Kaukauna and I buy a whole pig for $1.69 a pound. This includes butchering and wrapping. I love pork chops on the grill and those delicious pork brats. The butcher’s shop customizes the cuts of meat to your liking. They ask you how many pounds you want in a package and how thick you want your meat.

At Becks Meats they also do chickens for $1.59 a pound. Each chicken averages around 5 to 6 pounds each. We do all our own chicken ourselves. We order chickens from of local coop and raise them to around 8 to 10 pounds then butcher them ourselves. We do about 25 chickens a year. This a day long project for us. The girls and I wait till dad chops the heads and then does the de-feathering.  Then the girls and I clean and cut them up into pieces. Freeze and enjoy fresh chicken year round.

Always do your research and check several meat markets for prices and amounts or meat you needed to buy to get your biggest discounts. I find I can save hundreds of dollars this way when I buy my meat. Everybody loves some meat, so why not save money and do your meat shopping at a butcher shop. Enjoy that steak, bacon and chicken from Suzie Homemaker.

Gym Memberships, are they worth it?

Gym memberships, are they worth it? This is a personal choice you have to make.  I am going to give you my opinion on having a gym membership. Yes, gym memberships can be very expensive, but think of your health and all the benefits a gym can do for you.

The first thing you need to do is check out as many different gyms as possible. All gyms are different and offer different types of classes and equipment to work out on. Go online and check out reviews on the gym. We found out the hard way on this one, even though the membership was cheaper the place was dirty and the machines were not maintained very well. Ask for a day pass to try out the gym and classes first before getting a membership.

Second if you are a person who needs an extra push to exercise try a personal trainer. The gym that we decided to go to has excellent trainers for an extra fee.  If this is something you would like the staff will recommend a trainer that they feel will fit best with your needs and personality. The staff will take you on a tour of the gym and explain all the equipment and classes that are available.

Third check out the classes that are available, most start early in the morning and go until early evening.  I love the classes they offer like Zumba, Spin, TRX, Yoga, and several more to choose from. The gym we decided on Is Lakepark Swim & Fitness. They greet you with a smile and call you by your name every time you enter the place. Most people stay afterwards for the free coffee and social hour. Everybody is so friendly and helpful at this gym.

Fourth, think of your health and all the benefits exercising can do for you. Working out 2 to 4 days a week for 45 minutes to an hour can improve your health tremendously. Exercising can make you feel and look better too. In a previous blog I wrote about earning extra cash by doing surveys, well this is how I pay for my gym membership .Even if you do not want to go to a gym just walking, jogging or biking is a great way to get some exercise. Be healthy and happy from Suzie Homemaker.

Gardening Tips

Will it ever stop raining!  Rain has been a real problem this year for my gardens. Today I will show a few of my gardens and how I try to take care of weeds. The weeds have been a big problem with all this rain. First, you can’t get into your gardens without sinking up to your knees. My poor work boots are so full of mud.

Here are a few things that I use to keep down the weeds. I use cardboard boxes, cereal boxes, cracker boxes and I found some old drywall boards and cut them into long strips to put in between the rows. This helps keep down the weeds between the rows, so then all I have to do is weed around the plants

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My first garden I will show you is my main garden. This garden took a hit with all the rain. Some seeds washed away or just did not come up. As you can see I have my cardboard boxes and drywall board down in between my rows. I can walk on these very easily and not get my boots all mud. Now all I have to weed is by the plants. This works very well.

My second garden I will show you is my raspberry garden. My husband dug up a patch in our lawn and we put in a small patch of raspberries. Every year I cut out all dead branches and pull all the weeds. This patch spouts new raspberries each year so the patch keeps on growing and spreading.

My third garden I would like to show you is my grape vines. If you have an old dog coop this make a great climbing wall for you grape vines. A good trellis is another good wall for your vines to climb up. We have had these grape vines for 3 years now and they are producing a nice amount of grapes for jams, juices or just to eat.

My fourth garden I would like to show you is my strawberry garden. I had no set place for these, so I just planted then in my flower garden. They have a nice pretty flower, so they just fit right in. I am picking strawberries every other day lately. I throw straw down in between a little bit to keep down the weeds.

My last garden has tomatoes. To keep down the weeds around the plants I took an ice cream pail and cut a hole in the bottom to let the plant grow through it. This helps with the weeds around the bottom of the plant and also helps with too much rain.

Having gardens takes a lot of work. It is well worth it when you have fresh produce to can and eat. Weeds will always be a problem so I hope some of these things I do will help you with your weeding problems. Happy gardening from Suzie Homemaker.

Exrta Minty Chunk Cookies

                I would like to show you a recipe my youngest daughter loves to make. She likes to add an extra zing to this recipe because she loves mint. Everybody loves cookies, so today I will be giving you my daughters mint cookie recipe. This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies.  I will be lucky if these cookies last 2 to 3 days.

Extra Minty Chunk Cookies

½ Cup softened butter

¾ Cup brown sugar

½ Cup white granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon mint extract (secret ingredient)

2 eggs

1 package Andes Crème De Menthe baking chips

2 2/3 Cup all-purpose flour

Beat butter, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, mint extract, and eggs until mixed. Stir in Andes candies then add flour and mix well. Chill the cookie batter for one hour in the refrigerator. Take a spoon and make 1 ounce balls. Take your formed balls and flatten them a little bit with a fork. Raise your top, rack one level from the middle and bake on a non-stick pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Leave your cookies on the pan to cool for 2 minutes. This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies.

                My daughter loves mint, so adding the extra mint extract gives these cookies an even more minty flavor. This is an easy recipe to make and everybody will love them. I hope you love my daughter’s extra mint chunk cookies from Suzie Homemaker.

Camp Mustache 2016

V                I hope everybody had a nice Memorial Day. This holiday weekend, my husband and I went to Washington State for a seminar. The resort we stayed at was Rainbow Lodge Retreat Center, located in North Bend Washington. This retreat can handle 60 people comfortably.  This retreat focused on saving money and how to retire early. This was our second year that we have attended this seminar and we had a lot of returning people and many new ones. We made many new friends that we will continue to communicate with.

                This whole retreat is focused off of Mr. Money Mustache. I recommend everybody to check out his web site www.mrmoneymustache.com He explains how he and his wife retired early while in their early 30’s. As you know, I like to find ways to save money and Mr. Money Mustache tells you how he and his wife did this and retired early. I give you the little ideas and he gives you the bigger ideas.

                My husband gives tax savings ideas at this seminar each year. Some other classes that are given are travel hacks. This class gives your travel ideas on how to save on hotels and airline flights, using different credit cards. The whole seminar is based on saving, saving and more saving. If you need more information on the retreat here is the web site. rainbowlodge@mns.com. The big highlight of this seminar is the 8-mile hike up Mt. Si. Not everybody makes it to the top but most try.

                Mr. Money Mustache talks with everybody at the seminar. At the end of the seminar, they have a Q and A session where everybody gets the chance to ask any questions they may have. The age of people that come to this seminar is between 23 to over 60 years old. We all share our stories and where we are in our journey to early retirement. The goal is to have enough money to retire early and enjoy life. Mr. Money Mustache and the people at this seminar help you achieve these goals.

                I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day, I know we did from Suzie Homemaker.