Author Archives: Sheila

Sunday Shopping and Saving 8/17/2014

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Today is  the first official day of my vacation, but even so I did manage to enjoy both hopping and saving. Because my children, especially Kendall, are early risers we had planned to eat two meals out  today.  My mother gave me a coupon for Golden Corral, and we made this our first stop this morning. The coupon was for adult breakfast buffets which include your choice of milk, juice or coffee. The hostess also gave us the coupon price for the kid’s buffet as well, which means that all six of us ate for $35.  We found a really quick route to the beach and arrive in plenty of time for lunch. Actually, we shopped first because we had so much time. I had printed just in case the coupon for Outback Steakhouse, so we decided to splurge and enjoy this as well. We did end up spending $70 including tip but not bad considering the adults all had steak and the kids ended up finishing their meals for dinner.

We stopped at the Tanger Outlets but  only hit a couple of stores. Old Navy advertised an awesome sale and we were excited to find lots of items on the $5 tables however over half of these items did not ring up for $5 so we left disappointed.  I picked up several polo shirts for Zach and a pair of jeans as well. The Disney Store  was the kids choice, each of the three little kids has been saving money and doing extra chores for the past  two months and were excited to purchase some toys today. I was able to take advantage of the $10 pajama sale for all three little kids and myself. Matt found a cool shirt for under $10 so in the end, everyone was happy!

I had planned on saying this was going to be our most expensive day, however we are going to a dinner theater  tomorrow evening. I have already purchased the ticket so it is budgeted and covered but still really expensive!

Staycation

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I have been very fortune over the last week to enjoy a very little work load and some much needed time off. I worked half days on Monday and Wednesday in addition to being completely on vacation Thursday- Sunday. I had planned this since early July but really wanted to keep it low key as we leave for our real vacation in less than a week.

I have been able to spend extra time with all three kids this week working on education stuff. I am so proud of the great reader that Kendall has become but I notice she is still working hard in Math. We have been working on learning money. I am hoping to use her spending money at the beach to continue this education. Lily is working ahead in Math, reviewing multiplication facts and is learning to keyboard. As an OT, keyboarding is what I consider a fundamental skill, however it is not taught at all in the public school system here so I am feeling the gap. Zach is officially a preschooler with one year before he will be starting Kindergarten. He is math minded but can only recognize numbers 1-5 and knows about half of his alphabet. My goal is for him to learn the entire alphabet prior to January so that Matt can teach him  to read as well.

I enjoyed a very low key birthday which involved three simple rules…1. No fighting 2. No whinnying and 3. No calorie counting.  We have eaten out twice today and I am totally guilty free with this!

The rest of the time I have been spending time reading, relaxing and at the same time preparing for the next month of full schedule.  We did go shopping in Winston and even spent several relaxing hours at the pool. I can definitely say this was a good break but a productive one as well.

Shopping Savings

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I have been able to get in some extra shopping over the past couple of days, so I thought I would share with you. I was able to pick up several items, including Lunchables to use in the girls lunches as they head back to school. Stocking up on these at $1.00 each is much better for us than the $2.85 a day for lunch at school. I am sure that as the year goes on we will be back to packing our own lunch combo but these are definitely worth the convenience at the stock up price.

Magic Mart– Not sure how wide spread this store is but I found some awesome deals yesterday with no coupons.
Hunt Pudding packs- $0.88
Lays Stax (Blue containers)  Barbecue or Sour Cream/Onion $0.88
Reese Peanut Butter 8 packs $1.03

Walmart–  I hate this store but need to pick up a birthday gift and decided to use some coupons while I was there.
Notebook Paper- $0.75 each- Not the best price but much cheaper than $1.59 which is the regular price.
Lunchables $1.00 each
Suave Kid’s Shampoo- $1.50 each, printable coupon $1.00 off so $0.50 each (I got two)
Mitchum Deodorant-$2.97-  $2.00 off coupon paid $0.97.  This is one of the few items I remain brand loyal to so I try to always buy at less than $1.00
Hawaiian Punch- $1.98- coupon for $1.00 off so I picked up two for $0.98 each
Minute Maid Juice- half gallon on sale 4 for $5, two $1.00 off 2 coupons and submitted to get a Walmart gift card $5.  I will update when I actually receive this gift card.  Even without the gift card less than $1 each.

Target– My favorite store!  I love the way they let you combine coupons. Read more about it here.
Sharpie Highlighters- 2 pack, $1.98 each, Mobile coupon for $1.00 off two. Ending up being $0.98
Scotch Tape- $1.02- Target Coupon for $1.00 off.
Post- It notes $0.99- Target coupon for $1.00 off
BIC mechanical pencils (8 count) $0.99 each, Target coupon for $1.00 off 2.
Skippy Peanut Butter Singles (6 pack) – $2.60- 30% off with cartwheel and $0.75 off 2 from newspaper.
Lunchables- Buy 5 get 5 free final price $0.75 each.
Light weight Gray jacket for Zach $5.00

CVS– I decided against working a $10 gift card deal this week. I am trying to save money for the beach and although the deals were good they were not rock bottom and honestly we didn’t need any so I just picked up the mandatory diet cokes and cereal.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal- 2 for $4, with 1 ECB with the purchase of 2. I had two  $0.50 off one coupons, plus a $0.50 deposit into my saving star account. They ended up being $1 a box so my buy price.

 

The biggest reward I got this weekend is by catching in my Saving Star money. This is a simple app that is tied to your individual reward cards or can be used by scanning in Walmart receipts as well. I had $12.15 deposit in my checking account on Saturday from this!

10 Things Tuesday -8/5/2014

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This is my favorite way of catching up with all the tidbits, so I hope you enjoy!

1. JCPenny’s sent me a $15 reward for my birthday, so I combined with a coupon they also sent to purchase a Liz Claiborne polo shirt and a sports bra for $8.32! SCORE!

2. My square foot garden had started looking really sad and dead but after removing all the squash plants, all but a couple of my bean plants and lots of dead branches from the tomato’s it is finally looking much better. We are still getting just a few tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. We have enjoy a watermelon and cantaloupe as well. I am holding out hope that with our recent wetter weather we will get a decent sweet potato harvest in late October.

3. Someone at work  or a patient brought in a table full of tomatoes, corn, cucumbers and cantaloupe. After realizing, that three days later, most of the remaining tomatoes would not last over the weekend, I brought them home and made salsa. It honestly is the best salsa I have ever made. I was able to use the crock pot and froze several batches for use this winter.

4. My work has finally slow down a bit. I have been able to enjoy going into work around 10am for several days the last couple of weeks. This has given me a chance to work on “school” with the kids.  Zach is working on recognizing both letters and numbers. Kendall is work on money and her pencil grip and Lily is focusing on math skills and keyboarding.

5. The girls have really enjoyed piano lessons this summer and both are doing well. The teacher who is also a friend at our church has decided to continue this fall!  The only downfall is finding some wiggle room in our budget.

6. We have been able to eat at home without going to the store or out to eat for 5 days! I hope we can continue this trend.

7. I spent some time this weekend organizing pictures. I have actually been able to get the pictures from 2014 organized. I would love to find a way to print pictures on a regular basis, Any suggestions?

8. I have been able to exercise 3 time last week and I off to a good start for this week. I am continuing to loss weight and my next  milestone is 50 pounds!

9. Both Kendall and Lily started in cheerleading last night. Kendall really liked it but it was “a lot of work”

10. We are having some crazy summer weather, but at least Matt and the kids enjoyed a morning at the park!

Grocery Budget-Motivation

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Our largest category of spending is Groceries.  I budget $600 a month to go toward this but for this year so far I am averaging over this amount by $14.  I often plan and set a goal to reduce this category but it is the most difficulty one for me to control or at least that is what it feels like. If you read my July update, you probably are aware that I plan to save at least $250 of this months grocery budget to use as fun money at the beach.

Every time I make such a plan, things seem to come up and usually I tend to cave and just buy what we “need”. This month, as usual, already we are starting to run out or run low on a number of items. However, I have not caved to the pressure, simply because of the motivation to have the extra money to use at the beach.  I will say that this is becoming harder by the day and we still have 2 week prior to leaving for our trip.

One of the items that we are running out of currently are spices. I have just started a list on the back of the monthly calendar so that when we do head out to shop, I can be assured that we are not forgetting anything. We are starting to run low on several items that I would usually plan a trip to Costco just to pick up such as milk and eggs. We brought up from the freezer, our last gallon of milk yesterday.  I had originally planned to keep this frozen and use as an ice pack in the cooler but this will not be the case. I have decided that we can always purchase a gallon of milk there it will come from the same money but it at least will be a beach purchase. We have exactly 24 eggs left. The kids have been enjoying at least one egg a morning each with their dad and at that rate we have about a weeks worth left.

A final item that is going to take a little bit more planning for the next two weeks is menus.  Our only chicken meal left in the freezer is Chicken Fried Rice, slight problem we are out of soy sauce to complete.  The good news is that we have plenty of pork and beef items and even a seafood meal.  The addition problem is that starting this week the girls will have cheerleading two nights a week which means that we have to have semi quick meals.  I don’t want us trying to save the grocery money to turn into eating out because it is easier.  I am hoping that by writing things down it will make me more accountable. Wish me luck!

Target Shopping

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I can honestly say that I enjoy shopping more at Target than CVS now!  The only thing that could make me like shopping Target anymore would be if it were physically closer to me!  Over the last several months I have been making it a habit to watch the Target ads and stop by any time I am in Winston.. On Thursday, we spent most of the day shopping and our first stop was Target. I am going to give a lot of details about this trip and also how anyone can combine all the promotions at Target to save even more money!

The final saving at Target to me is the simplest. You save an additional 5% of your bill after all other coupons by using a “Red Card”.  My red card is not a credit card but simply a card that is tied to my regular bank account. I use it only in Target and it works like a regular debit card although it usually takes about a week for it to post to my account. On our trip Thursday, I saved $4.53 by swiping this card instead of my regular debit card.

One of the biggest ways to save at Target is to combine sales with coupons. You are allowed to use 1 Target (store) coupon in addition to a manufactures coupon.  Target actually has 2 different types of coupons. First they have printable coupons from the website, in addition, they have mobile coupons which are texted to your phone. Although you can use both a manufactures coupon and a Target coupon on one item you can not use both a mobile coupon and a printed Target coupon on the same items.   On this trip, I purchased “Right Guard Deodorant” this was not on sale. The price was $3.34, I used a $2.00 off Target coupon and a $1.50 coupon from the newspaper for this item, which made it entirely FREE! I don’t think that Target allows overages but I can’t really tell from my receipt but FREE is still Free!  Target also puts out very different coupons than you generally see. For example I was able to purchase a roll of Scotch Tape and a pack of Post It notes  for $0.02 each by simply using the store coupon. Another advantage to the Target coupon is that some are for their house brand items, which are usually less expensive. For example, I purchased the house brand sunscreen and used $1.00 off store coupons.  I have really been surprised at how many coupons I find on their store brands.

Finally, in addition to use both a store and manufactures coupon, Target has a program called “Cartwheel”  This takes a little bit of work and planning but as you will see well worth the time in the long run.  To use the “cartwheel” you have to go to the Target website and sign up for the account, I used Facebook so it was simple. Cartwheel items are generally for a % off an item.  You are limited to 18 Cartwheel offers at a time but can easily remove and add. I always print my Cartwheel list from the site so it is a simple scan of a barcode in the store. On this trip, I took advantage of several of these offers including 20% of kids shoes, 30% off Nutty Poptarts, 25% off Swimwear, and 15% off Coopertone Sunscreen. I was able to combine the cartwheel and coupons to purchase the Poptarts for $0.66 a box and the sunscreen for $6.50 a bottle. The percentage of saving comes off the price of the item before coupons which is an advantage.

A final reason I like shopping Target is the convenience of having everything in one store!

July in Review

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Blogging:  Goal: 15 per month  Post number 15!  Goal met!  I will be the first to admit that this has been a real struggle for me this month but I am glad to say I can accomplish it!

Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150 by December 2014.  The more I look at this goal the more I am wondering if it is realistic. However I am going to leave it in place for now. Officially I have lost 39#  since January. I am getting help with a medication but I am also still try to keep with the goal. I need to focus on the exercise part of this goal for sure.  I am claiming goal met!

Financial Goals:

1.  Pay off credit card debit by June 2015.   I did change this goal to reflect the purchase of the new dryer last month. I did pay off all the debt except for the dryer this month.  Goal met for this month.

2. Emergency Fund to $2000.  We are sliding backwards again on this goal. My emergency fund is down to $100.  I know this needs to be important. I just can’t seem to get it in place!

. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month  Total spent $690, this is over $100 less than last month but it has also raised my monthly average to $617. The good news is that we have purchased all the stuff for our vacation. My plan is to at least the first half of our grocery money in August for spending money on the trip. I know that in the next two months I will also be placing a large chicken order so I am not sure if I will be able to met even the average of $600 for the year.

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs.  Total Spent $381. Goal MET.  I am excited to see that we have finally been able to reduce our total gas usage for this month. This amount does include an oil change for the van.  My monthly average is sitting at $417, this will also have to be a goal looked at closely at the end of the year to determine do I need to increase?  I am also increasing this by $100 in August to cover our travel expenses.

 

Overall I did meet 4 of 6 goals. I am feeling much better about this month than in June. I do realize that I simply may need to raise both the grocery and gas budget by $25 to $50 at the end of the year to achieve a balance!