Monthly Archives: June 2010

Menu Post for Week of 6/21

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Yeap it is Wednesday but I am posting the menu for the week. With Remington’s birth on Monday, things have been off schedule all week. But I want to keep up with the rest and this just help my brain think.

Monday-Breakfast (Lily’s request and Matt cooked)
Tuesday- Chicken and Turkey filet (Father’s Day meal for my Dad)
Wednesday- Spaghetti
Thursday- Seafood (Boiled shrimp is Lily’s favorite) Salad leftover from Tuesday to go with it
Friday- Pizza from Pizza Hut (plan on using a coupon should be around 20 for all of us to eat)

Simple but good!

Garden Update

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This is the entire garden

I am so excited this year to attempt a small garden. We agreed to try this and increase it next year if it worked. I am spending about 15 minutes a day with the watering and weeding. I have already decided that I need to start my seeds in February next year so they will produce sooner. Currently, the plans are for 2 additional boxes. This will allow me to be able to grow more and buy less next summer with less than 30 minutes a day spent on the garden.

A squash!!! The first of our cucumbers!

I am hoping that the cucumbers will produce all summer with 4-5 for us to pick a week. Last year we were able to pick one a week. I have 2 separate plants, one in front of the box and one growing up the back. The squash plant is huge but I only have 1 so it will definitely be tripled or more next year. I would love to pick at least 4-5 squash a week.

A green bean.

I now realize that we will barely get enough this year especially of the green beans to use of maybe a meal but at least I know I can grow them..


This is a banana pepper. Matt spotted it first and he is excited to see how they taste. Pepper will definitely be increased next year as well. I am sad to say that I doubt we will be harvesting any green peppers. I had planted 4 different stalks in the garden and I am down to 2 growing and they are small and growing slowly.

Monday Menu Post 6/14

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Last week, we did really well sticking to the menu plan except for Friday, when I made sweet meatballs for dinner. This week will be an unusual one for us. Basically, I am trying to use up alot of things out of the freezer. Angel Food is distributed on Saturday and we are planning on the “summer trip” to Costco. I was hoping for another week of Harris Teeter triples or super doubles but since that didn’t happen, I need to restock alot of stuff. Everyone is home for the summer which means 3 meals a day for all 7 of us. In addition, I am planning on going to the pool at least a couple of times a week, which means we need snacks and drinks.

Monday- Salisbury steak (already frozen) potatoes and fruit.
Tuesday- Chicken fried rice and Egg Rolls
Wednesday- Baked ziti and garlic bread
Thursday- Steaks on the grill
Friday-Fish sandwiches and French fries

Highest Ever Savings at CVS

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After reading my last blog, you know that I do not roll ECBs but try to spend them all at the same time. I also am a member of “CVS advisory” panel. I found the information for this on Southern Savers. So far I have completed 3 surveys, one of which I received information about yesterday via email. I have to admit I was very skeptical because it promised 10 ECB if you qualified to participate and 2 just for trying so I thought okay why not. I did qualify for this survey which involved watching a commercial and typing in responses.

So today, I took my 10 ECBs and my printed list and did a quick trip to CVS. I was able to snag a couple of money making deals. One of which is on the Gillette Body Wash ( sale price $4 with 4ECB). I also had a BOGO coupon and thought great two more free things of body wash. The register actually printed out ECB on both of the items. Here is a break down of the transactions

Transaction #1
4 SOBE Water (sale price $1 each)
2 Gillette Body Wash ($4 each)
1 Herbral Essence Shampoo ($5.99)
Coupons used BOGO Gillette
2 BOGO SOBE Waters
1 off Shampoo
10 ECBs
Total with Tax 1.56, ECB received 8 for Gillette and 2 for Shampoo

Transaction #2
2 Packs of Huggies Diapers (sale price 8.98)
Coupons used 2 x $3.00 off Diapers
10 ECBs from previous transaction
Total with Tax 2.30

Total Out of Pocket $3.56 total saved $47 or 92%!

I LOVE CVS

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One of the things that I try to do on a regular basis on Fridays is check out Southern savers for the upcoming Sunday ad. Last week, I was disappointed. I really didn’t see much that I wanted. So I skipped the Sunday trip. On Monday, I realized that I didn’t have any ladies deodorant in the stockpile and of course we needed some. I did remember that they had deodorant on sale so I decided to make a quick trip.

I was nicely surprised to find that when I scanned my card I received a coupon on diapers to use in the future. I also discovered that CVS brand formula was on sale buy one get one 50% off. Of course they only had one container of soy. I decided to be brave and ask if they would give it to me at 50% they did. I ended up spending $23 and saving $47 or 68%. I was pleased with my trip because I got formula, pacifiers, 2 hair products and 4 deodorants for $23. I also received a bonus of 5 off 15 at the register. The only catch was that it ran out on Friday.

This brings me to the second trip, on Thursday night. I decided to make a another trip to use the coupon and I knew I would also earn another ECB for use of my green tag bag. I scanned my card and got a free 2 ECB. I always carry my rainchecks with me and usually check. I found they had more of the Gillette body wash from several weeks ago. I decided to do 2 transactions. I ended up with 2 packs of diapers, 3 packs of batteries ( 2 off 2 coupon from the machine), 2 body washes and a 9 pack of toilet paper for $12.75 my savings 79% or $46!!

This is probably a good place to explain my thoughts on ECB. Many people (most I think) like to roll their ECB and try to leave the store with as many as they started with. I have a different idea, at this stage in our lives we have 2 in diapers and are buying baby food and formula. Diapers at “regular price” are around $10 a bag for the generic brand, so 3 bags a week $30 a week or around $120 a month. Zach is on Soy Formula so that is around $20 a week or another $100 a month. So I like to use any ECBs that I get to lower my OOP expenses for these items. I feel that if I bring ECBs home and save I am wasting money so I try to spend all that I receive in my last transaction to buy diapers and or formula. This week at CVS I was able to buy a week supply of diapers and formula for less than I would spend on diapers without couponing! That is the reason I love CVS!

Stop I Want to Get OFF!

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This is my exact feeling this week. I have been intending to post since Tuesday when the plan was to do a random post but that didn’t happen and yesterday was Wordless Wednesday that I missed so I am going to share what I have been up to this week.

Monday, Amanda had a doctor’s appointment and we stopped by the store for some veggies to make Tacos with. That evening we moved everything out of our old bedroom, pulled up the carpet and set up a “temporary bedroom.” in the Addition. We started sleeping on the air mattress and so far it is about the same as our old bed.

Tuesday- I spent the entire day except for an hour driving Amanda around while she purchased/leased a car and got insurance. I did go to a job interview, where I accept a PRN position with the hope that I can pick up an additional 10 hours a week this summer to catch up!

Wednesday- I worked 5 hours, came home and went to bed. A summer cold knocked me out and I slept around 12 hours. I do feel better today but not great.

Thursday- I took Angel Food orders at the church while organizing my coupons that I have not worked with since April. I also went to an IEP meeting as a parent advocate for a patient of mine at the hospital. Lily actually sad to me that she “needed a lazy morning to stay at home could we please have one on Friday.” I agree.

Stop world I want to get off and stay at home!

Monday Menu Post 6/07

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Well last week was ok… we managed to stick to the plan for 3 of the 5 days. Over the weekend, we ended up splurging. Matt and I had our anniversary dinner out on Saturday night. Then on Sunday, we ate out 2 meals with friends. So it it back to eating at home this entire week. My goal is to not eat out at all. I still have not made the “tator tot cassrole” so I am taking it off the menu. This is the last week of school so we are going to start eating out of the freezor as well.

Monday: Tacos (I have to pick up some lettuce and tomatoes for this)
Tuesday: Ham steak with brown sugar carrots and stewed apples (This is all food that needs to be eaten before it starts to go bad.)
Wednesday: Steaks on the grill
Thursday: Grilled chicken
Friday: Chicken fried rice or spaghetti

I hope we can stick to this. I will be making a trip to Costco next weekend. I need to pick up some hamburger meat as this is the only meat we do not get from Angel Food now.

MAY in Review

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Wow! I can’t believe it is already the 3rd day of June. May turned out to be a very very busy month for us indeed. I have got a few minutes to update on the monthly goals.

Blogging- I just checked the number of post for the month and it was 21. Not too bad considering that I have been really trying to blog at least 5 times a week. This is the same number of post as January and the second highest, with March being the most. I wonder why I was able to post so much in March?

Reading my Bible- I sucked at this and need to make it a higher priority! This will be my focus on June.

Preschool with Lily- We have completed 6 days of preschool this month. The biggest thing is that I have finally finished the planning part of “Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons.” I am going to start this with Lily either tonight or tomm.

budget- It sucked this month, if you read my last post you understand why. My goal is to spend 500 a month or less on groceries including diapers, formula, cleaning and personnel items. Last month I did provide the food for Amanda’s baby shower but my grocery budget was over $1000. I have got to get better and at least down to the average of $620 for June!

Work is needed in all areas but I know that God will show the way!