Author Archives: Sheila

Sunday Shopping At CVS

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This is one of the best weeks in a long time at CVS, I knew that I needed to get to the store today if I want to grab the couple of deals I spotted.  But the reason I am so excited tonight is not only did I get the deal but made money in the process.

In the past, there has been some debate on a couple of websites as how to count your ECB and figure in your savings., however today no matter how you do the math, I made money by shopping.  The one slight issue I had was that the red coupon machine did not work so I had to wait till after the transactions to get most of the coupons that have been advertised. I just kept things simple and am sure I did better by the machine being broken in the end.

I started out with $1.00 ECB on my card and $2.50 on Matt’s card.

Transaction #1 (my card)
M&M on sale $0.75 and Skinny Cow Carmel Delight on clearance for $0.59
Total spent $0.37 and Earned $0.75 for the M&Ms

Transaction #2 (Matt’s Card)
Crest Pro-Health mouthwash on sale for $4.99 and a coupon for $1.00 off
Total Spent $1.83 and earned $4 in ECB and an additional $5 in ECB for meeting $50 in the beauty club.

Transaction #3 (Matt’s Card)
Crest Pro-Health mouthwash on sale for $4.99 and a coupon for $1.00 off
M&M on sale for $0.75
I did use $4 ECB from the previous transaction, total spent $1.09 with $4 ECBs

Total Spent out of Pocket = $3.29 plus $3.50 in ECB      equals $6.79
ECBs remaining = $10.50
Total profit $3.71!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Saving Money- Food!

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The single biggest expense in our monthly budget is food. In addition to the $600 each month, we also enjoy eating out. This year we have spent as much as $400 in one month eating out with an average of $200 a month spent on food to go. I usually have coupons so I can’t imagine what this would be if we eat “like normal”.   I attempted to plan on the next several months being really expensive with pool season, the beginning of cheerleading and several birthdays as well as our schedule vacation. After some thought and discussion, we decided to try to eliminate all eating out for the month of May.  So far we have been successful, we did order pizza the night after our yard sale but used profits to pay for it.

On Thursday, of this past week, Sonic had  a super deal of corn dogs (50 cent each) so I decided to be really creative.  We have a change bucket that Matt throws his spare change and I will sometime empty mine in to as well. For the yard sale, I took the change container with some change in it, I added to and use it for change all day but did not bother to count it up at the end because I had not counted it at the beginning. So on Thursday, I raided the change and was able to purchase a dozen corndogs and left at least another dollar!

Another way that we have attempted to save money is by making our own bread.  I have been doing this since the bread class I taught about in this post. So far I do think it has saved up money, I purchased a large bag of bread flour for $14.95 and several boxes of instant potatoes for less than $5.  We have gone 2 months without purchasing bread so we are at the break even point now. I plan to continue with this  because it is not as difficulty as I thought, much healthier and cheaper!

Finally several other ways we save money on food/groceries is couponing, buying in bulk and attempting not to waste anything. I mentioned in April that we were starting to run low on choices for meats, basically we had chicken and deer meat. I am very excited to report that we have not purchased any meat yet! We are continuing to eat the meat we have in creative ways!

Saving Money- Checking Insurance

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I dislike insurance of all kind and fashion. My thoughts are that they companies are making money on someone’s worries but that being said it is a “requirement” in most situations.  We have had both Auto and Home Insurance with the same company Liberty Mutal for close to 10 years. One of the reason’s that I have stayed with this company is it is easy to do. In addition, I usually check out rates every couple of years just to make sure we are still competitive. In the past, the difference have been so small that it was not worth changing.  Over the past several months, I have become more and more frustrated with the company. First is their billing system, starting 3 months ahead of time, you get a bill with monthly and then bi-weekly reminders. I receive both paper and email remainders. Next as I started to look over the bill, I found a “clean air allotment” charge, I call to ask and never really got an explanation. I was told that in the past this was split between the billing cycles??? I still don’t know what this charge is.  The final problem that made me starting comparing rates and looking for a different company was the statement that once a bill is issued, no changes can be made to the amount due on it. For example, I dropped one car off the policy which reduced my overall policy amount by over $200, however since my bill had been issued I would be given credit for this on the next billing cycle six months away.

I went online the other night and requested auto insurance quotes, I have received five. Each of the five was lower than the amount I am currently paying. So today, I decided to call the companies to verify the amounts before making a decision. I am excited to report that I saved $210.56 by switching my auto insurance to GEICO!  I will be able to make changes and even claims online if needed!!

This definitely helps our budget not only this month but for the rest of the year!

 

“One Der” Land

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If you are a fan of the show “Biggest Loser”, then you totally get the title. If not let me explain a little. “One Der” land is a reference to having your weight fall back into the 100’s which is where everyone should end up.

I have reached that milestone!!!!!!!!!!!!! I talked a little about what I am doing in this post. This week has been a little rough especially with me being sick. I did actually skip the  Phebtermine HCL 37.5mg. on Thursday because I felt so bad.  I have not been to the YMCA to work out in a week, but that hopefully will change as well since as of today, I am feeling much better.  I am averaging a 5# a week weight loss which is awesome but at the same time a little scary for me. I am actually thinking about decreasing my medicine the last month to every other day to hopefully curtail the rebound effect. I also plan to continue counting calories for at least 2 months after finishing to make sure I can maintain the weight loss without additional support.

The good news is that I am not hungry, in fact when I find myself feeling “shaky” I eat a snack to settle down. I have also focused on eating foods that I would normally eat and just eating the correct portions. In the end, this should be easier for me than a lot of dramatic changes that result in instant weight gain!

Rough Week

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This quite honestly has been one of the roughest weeks around my house in a long long time.  I am going to share the gorge exciting details but feel free to just know it is long.

First on Saturday, I had a yard sale at my friend’s house, this of course is not bad but after staying up late Friday night to set it up and back up early for even Kendall on Saturday, I had planned a early night on Saturday. I did make $112 at the sale so that is a positive. Saturday night my mother fell and received some really nasty bruises on her head and knee. I spent several hours in the emergency room with her. I am so glad I could be with her but I am one tired chic at this point.

Sunday was Mother’s Day. Church was in the am and most of the afternoon I spent baking for the planned dinner at my brother’s house. I will say that we had an awesome time and really enjoy just being together as a big family on Sunday evening.

Monday- I started with a weird stomach bug after lunch, I finished work came home and went to bed.  This has pretty much been the pattern for the last 3 days. I have taken enough medicine to make it at work but after that I am finished. Matt has had a different cough cold but neither of us are functioning at full capacity.

Thursday- I spent half the day in bed, but at least I am starting to feel better. I am kinda sad because I am off work again tomorrow. The plan was to attend Kendall’s field day but it was cancelled tonight due to the rain and cooler weather we are having.

Praying that things dramatically improve!

 

Lily’s Field Day 2014

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Random Tuesday Thoughts 5/6

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Life is going at its usual hectic pace around here so this is the prefect way to update with things going on.

  • The highlight of the last week and most like of the entire month if not the entire year was the Christian music concert that Matt, myself and the little kids attended on Sunday. It was outside at our fairgrounds. We were able to see several bands including The Newsboys. It was awesome, we all enjoy!  One of the surprising things is that we were all able to wear matching shirts that we purchased for our last trip to Disney, 3 years ago!  I am going to try to post some of the picture tomorrow. We had awesome seats that left me with ringing ears.
  • This weekend, I am planning on a yard sale at my BFF house. The goal of any yard sale is to make $100 and I hope to exceed this goal. All proceeds will go toward cheerleading for the next year as both girls plan to be involved. I have a good idea of the money that will be needed in the next six months and it will be a huge stretch but as always God will provide!
  • Our square foot garden is growing. I was able to plant with the help of the kids the sweet potatoes last week. I hope that by the end of May we will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor! One thing that the kids are really enjoying is each planted their own square of green beans. So far Kendall and Lily are tied for most plants growing.
  • Both Amanda and Haley will be starting or have started new jobs this month. I praying that they both enjoy working and can begin to save and get on a good financial track.
  • Last Saturday, I spent most of the morning weeding the flower beds around the house I am excited that the new flower bed we created in front of the house is growing.
  • The end of the school year is fast approaching with it comes lots of year-end events. Unfortunately, at work we getting  a new computer system the last week of the school year. I am being faced with some very tough decision about which activities to attend.
  • May is going to be a super expensive month but Matt has another new website on the horizon so I hope this will help offset the cost.