Category Archives: Shopping

Update- January Money Diet

Posted on by
Reply

This is going much better than I would have thought especially with the idea of spending less than $200 on groceries for the month. I did plan on some non-essential but excellent deal shopping at Target today. I got to the store and started grabbing the items from memory that were on my list. Over half way through, I needed to check my list regarding yogurt types on sale, that is when I realized I had left the bag with my coupons and list at home. I was frustrated but decided to purchase Zach’s t-shirts and leave the store with no food. That really does improve my overall numbers at this point. I am going to include a day by day spending recap in addition to totals at the bottom.

Friday January 1st- No spending!
Saturday January 2nd- $3.25 to rent War Room for our “date”
Sunday January 3rd- $3 ($2 for entry and $1 for Zach a drink) $2 on a newspaper because of 4 sets of coupons.
Monday January 4th-No spending!
Tuesday January 5th- $21 on a meal out for Matt and myself.  Matt had taken my van to get oil changed, tires rotated and van cleaned, this was all covered by Maintenance plan, this ended up taking the whole morning so we decided to grab a quick lunch together. It is extremely rare that we get 2 “dates” in a month so two in a week is unheard of . I am proud to say that we have spent $25 on 2 dates.
Wednesday January 6th- No spending.
Thursday January 7th-  I had an hair appointment for color this morning but this is out of our budget fund that we stock every six months. Matt and I talked about it and decided that this was essential spending! We drove to Matthews for Kendall and Zach eye appointments, we decided to pack our lunch, picked up a box of free donuts on the way home and the biggest decision of the day was to skip IKEA. I have flex spending which covered both the appointments and ordering of Rex Spec for Zach.   I did purchase a pack of t-shirts for Zach at Target for $5.02 and ordered 6 Polo shirts for Matt from Amazon for a total of $30.

Groceries- $2
Entertainment- $25
Clothing- $35
Gas- $87.42

We are tracking very well for the month.  I am so excited. I have already made a menu plan for the month so this should assist in keeping the groceries low. Lily has a two cheer competitions this month which end up being very expensive and will definitely use up our “eating out/entertainment budget” for the month. But since this is spending that we already agreed and committed to I am not going to let that stop us trying to keep all the other expenses as low as possible for the month.

In regards to clothing, the white t-shirts for Zach were needed as he currently only has 3 and with temperatures staying below freezing, I like him to wear one daily. The polo shirts I purchased for Matt average out to less than $5 each so I always like to grab up this deal when available. Matt usually wears short sleeve shirts most of the year and his are becoming “worn” looking so although not on a need list they will definitely save us money in the long run.

Food For Thought-

Posted on by
Reply

Today is my Mom’s birthday, which means we are fast approaching the end of the year. I am already in the process of looking and working on a budget for 2016. I will do a final update and set new goals hopefully this week but today I want to focus on Food.

  • Menu planning is still happening although I have not been posting the last couple of weeks have been about a couple of special meals and using up leftovers. This week we have already had a meal using meatballs my sister in law brought, tonight we made a roast and used some the sides we had left-over and tomorrow the plan is to use and make pork fried rice from leftover Christmas Eve shoulder. I am also adding some “convenient” meals to the freeze with the extra time we have this week.
  • Our grocery spending for the month is close to $900 which is way over budget. I have been taking advantage of some sells and stocking up, in addition to some extra meals and appetizers.
  • Our average monthly grocery spending for the year is at $691.59. I am totally amazed and excited for this number as it is under my $700 a month that I started in July.
  • I have been looking into some “average” numbers for grocery spending for our size family a “thrifty” plan is $770 and a “Low” plan is $1028 per month.
  • After finding these numbers I am very comfortable with maintaining our grocery spending to $700 a month. I am going to continue to focus on each month but not beat myself up for spending over now that I know it averages out within the year!
  • I was also able to find that the “average” family spends about $200 a month on eating out. In the past, I have not budgeted anything for eating out but this will become a regular expense in the year 2016.
  • We are starting the year with lots of meat in the freezer. I have already paid for 80# of pork that Matt will pick up the first week of January. We also just recently purchased chicken and a large order of ground beef. I am hopefully to not purchase any additional meat until March.
  • Our garden this year did well and we have been enjoying a variety of things. We have enlarged the garden to it’s capacity and hopefully will be able to multiply our freezing stock for the year.
  • I did not even attempt to lose weight with our trip to Disney and the holidays so I will back on track with eating healthier again in January.
  • Total random thought but at least it is food related. I just received in the mail a total of 6 free 12 packs expiring March 31. I will hold on till CVS offers ECBs or I just need them.

Things I Am Saving On 12142015

Posted on by
Reply

Since I have been at home for the last few days I have been doing a lot of window shopping online and even purchased several things. Here are a few of my best finds.

Shutterfly– As I mentioned we have around 1400 pictures from our trip. I definitely am planning on making a scrapbook and knew that the sooner I printed these the more like the scrapbook is to happen. The offer a “pre-paid” plan for prints that currently is on sale for $54 for 600 prints. I purchased 2 and yesterday afternoon picked out 650 pictures to print. I used the code “SHIP49” which gave me free shipping so including shipping ended up paying $60 for these pictures or ten cent including shipping. I was also able to grab a magnet with some cute pictures for $3.45 and purchased my dad his yearly calendar which included about 75 pictures for 13.75 using a free $20 from my coke rewards. I must still print another 400 pictures within the next year.

Flirty Aprons– 70% of any apron with free shipping. I purchased an black apron for Matt to use in the kitchen for $7.48

Bath and Body Works- Over the past week, I have purchased hand soaps at $2.50 or less each and body cream for $4.  These were one day deals but I did grab a lot of stuff. I found out with the hand soaps that you can purchase bundles and they will be discounted but only count as one item in your limit.

JCPennys- They are really offering some great deals right now. I was able to purchase twin size sheet sets for $12.50 each and the kids some fleece jackets for less than $3 each!  I also get back rewards so these were awesome deals.

Amazon- finally today is known as green day because online stores are taking to have the biggest day of the season. Kendall has been asking for Doc McStuffins toys and I was able to grab on at half off today.

 

Have you found any great deals that I should check out?

 

Disney – The Numbers

Posted on by
Reply

image

I really want to write this post and it has been in my head since our return but… I know these numbers are huge and almost scary. It is much easier to spend quietly but I struggled and searched for hours prior to the trip to locate and make a realistic budget and really nobody is talking. So I am going to be honest this is what we spent. We had the best vacation EVER and yes we will be doing some penny pinching in the next several months but we do planning on going back in a couple/three years after we have met some important goals, see bottom of post for these.

Disney Vacation package, including 6 day non park hopper ticket and dinning plan for 2 adults and 3 children      $4913.62
Cheap hotel room (I will not be staying here again, got exactly what I paid for.)  $41.41
Gas       $115.22-  I did observe that gas prices inside Disney World were $1.93 which were cheaper than our stations at home. We did not pay over $2 a gallon for the whole trip.
Food- Tips, drinks and other expenses outside of dining plan $523.83
Souvenirs–  This did include a lot of Christmas presents but these are things we came home with $1575.94

Total Expense for trip:$7169.98

Pictures taken– 1425- this included Photo Pass and Lily, myself and Matt. I am planning to complete a scrapbook and so is Lily.

On our date night, which we both really enjoyed, we talked about another trip because this one was so awesome. Our goals to begin planning the next trip included paying off all credit card debit and having an emergency fund to cover one month expenses or approximately $3500.  I am up for the challenge and would like to accomplish this in less than 2 years but God’s timing is always better than mine so I am going to wait and see.

5 things Friday 11/13/2015

Posted on by
Reply

5thingsfriday-logoRED

  1. Our new refrigerator arrived yesterday. Unfortunately the build in microwave would not fit so we sent it back. I LOVE the new fridge as it is huge!  We have enough room for all the food!
  2. My computer was acting up so I had to have a new hard drive install. The good news is that I was able to back up everything I thought important. The bad news is that I will be spending tomorrow reinstalling and getting the computer back to where I want it to be.
  3. We are still able to pick some lettuce and cabbage (finally) from the garden. The lettuce is almost gone but I have LOVED having it. We also have some tomatoes left in the window that were saved from the first frost. I am hoping to make some slaw and another dish this weekend with the cabbage.
  4. Our budget in November is still on track.
  5. I need to upload a lot of pictures from my phone and IPAD in anticipation of our trip to Disney. After finding storage I am planning to delete off both so I will have a lot of space!

 

5 Things Friday- 10/16

Posted on by
Reply

5thingsfriday-logoRED

1. We are predicted to have our first heavy freeze/frost this weekend. I am rather sad about this. This evening after dinner, we harvested and frozen any green peppers and basil that could be picked. Tomorrow, the kids are looking forward to harvesting the sweet potatoes. I am also planning to bring in as many tomatoes as can be saved.

2.We have currently gone 5 weeks without using our heat or air. This should bring our October and November Electric bills down to around $200. With temperatures to dip below freezing the next couple of nights. I am not sure how much longer we can enjoy this break.

3.I am so excited and proud to say that both the older girls are  gainful and legally employed.

4. All three of the “little” kids had dentist appointment yesterday. Both Kendall and Zach came away with no cavities and Lily has two small cavities but since they are both on baby teeth, the dentist suggested that we just wait. Zach has already started getting his permanent teeth and they have enamel.  The lack of enamel on most of his baby teeth resulted in $5000 of dental surgery at the age of 2 and we have been anxiously waiting to find out if the permanent teeth would be the same. Zach has the same over crowding issues that both Lily and Kendall have so braces at least once per kid if not twice per kid are in our future.

5.Budget wise for the month we are running fairly close. I  have already over spent the grocery budget. Gas prices in our area, during the past week have ranged from $2.09 to $1.99 with no rhyme or reason for the sudden increases or decreases, because of these sudden changes, our gas budget is going to be a close call and may even involve less driving the final week of October.

Saving at CVS

Posted on by
Reply

After several weeks of no really good reason to shop at CVS on Sunday, I was excited to go in today.  I will start with the explanation that Matt actually made a quick stop at CVS on Thursday to purchase some deodorant. He ended up receiving both a $1 ECB for the last quarter and $5 ECB for beauty club spending.

By the numbers:
5 transactions (3 on Matt’s card and 2 on my card)
2 bag of candy corn. These are at the request of Zach’s teacher so even on sale they are not items we would normally purchase.
3 bottles of shampoo
1 bottle of conditioner
10 2L of soda (8 of which were Diet Coke)
1 piece of caramel- (Need to use my ECB)

Total spent $12.69
Total saved $37 or 75%
ECB remaining 1

By far the best deal of the day was Treseme’ Shampoo and Conditioner.  I purchased 3 bottles of Shampoo and 1 bottle of Conditioner, used 2- $5/2 coupons that expired today 10/11 and my 5 ECB from Beauty club. Total out of pocket including tax was $1.77 or   44 cent each!

Menu Planning and other Rambling Thoughts

Posted on by
Reply

We have really implemented menu planning into our regular routine, Saturday morning after breakfast. This is one of the few times Matt and I can actually sit down and discuss what we want to cook, look in the pantry and cabinets without being in a rush. This morning we also talked about trying to “clean out the freezers as much as possible” prior to our Disney Trip. I don’t usually worry about the freezers in the building as I do about something happening to the smaller freezers in the house.  The plan/goal currently is to eat and use as much as possible in the next 54 days and only pay small amounts of food if needed with no big stock ups.  I honestly don’t thing this is very hard as I was really deliberate about buying and completely restocking our pantry and freezers this past week. We also have already order 80# of chicken, which will be picked up the first week of November. Honestly at this point I don’t even have room to place this chicken anywhere. I am also considering placing a ground beef order for December but this will depend heavily and freezer space as well.

Now on to the planning

Breakfast–  Homemade Breakfast bowls, Pancakes, toast with  jelly, yogurt,  cereal, poptarts, and grits will be out breakfast for the week. Saturday morning- tenderloin, eggs, grits and gravy. Sunday morning- Baked oatmeal( need to decide what kind in the near future.”

Lunch- .The kids were all excited that we bought “uncrustables” this week at Costco, along with grab lunches. I am going to be taking left-overs every day.

Dinner- During the week, things are fairly busy with an activity every night but Friday but we are keeping with the plan!

Saturday- Lunch: BBQ chicken plates              Dinner- Oyster stew or leftovers.

Sunday- Lunch- Baked potatoes, cream corn, Paula Deen mac and cheese.    Dinner-Leftovers or cowboy beans depending on how full the fridge is.

Monday- Salisbury steak, rice, green beans and fruit.
Tuesday- Pizza bites or eating at school even.
Wednesday-Spaghetti and meatballs
Thursday-  Chicken fried rice
Friday- Chicken nuggets and French fries.

 

I am attending a ladies conference next Friday night and Saturday so Matt and the kids will be figuring something out for these days.

5 Things Friday

Posted on by
Reply

5thingsfriday-logoRED

1. I was so excited and surprised to get an email today that told me, we owe $300 less on our Disney trip than I had originally planned! This is HUGE! We have been planning and paying on this trip since February and our final payment is due mid-month.

2  I was able to sell 2 toys today and that gave me $50 to put in the budget this month.

3. We are experiencing a “rainy season” We have received rain every day for the past week and are predicted to receive an additional 4-12 inches of rain over the weekend. My plans include staying inside and long hot baths. The temperature is also a bit cool for North Carolina in October.

4. We currently are on week 4 without heating or cooling out house!  This should help reduce our electric bill to under $200 for the month of October and hopefully November!

5. We made several huge grocery store trips yesterday and have already spent all but $16 of our grocery budget for the month. I am so disappointed in this but am already facing the fact that I seriously need to increase the budget to a more achievable amount.  I need to do some research and figure out what a reasonable amount would be, any suggestions on where to find this information?

Menu Planning Monday

Posted on by
Reply

This week is back to the normal busy routine. The weather is turning cooler so I am starting adding a soup day to most weeks. The challenge for the next two weeks is to use the groceries we have on hand and make a good list of items needed  on the first of October. I currently sit at $306 spent on groceries and that included buying a gallon of milk for this week.

Check out this awesome list of ways to use food and not waste, written by a friend of mine.

Now on to the menu plan

Breakfast– French toast, toast with new jelly, yogurt,  cereal, poptarts, grits or donuts at least for Monday and Tuesday. . Zach has been grabbing applesauce or canned fruit for breakfast as well.  Sunday morning- Breakfast Omelet

Lunch- For some odd reason, we have one Lunchable left in the fridge but no one wanted it this week. Lunches were all planned and mostly packed on Sunday. Our lunches include homemade chicken dunks, tomato, ranch and cheese, sandwiches one day, and a “grab day” which means crackers for most. I am going to take leftovers and Matt is eating these as well.

Dinner–Things are going really well with me arriving at home  for dinner most nights of the week.

Saturday- Lunch: McDonalds (profits from yard sale) .   Dinner- Hamburger Helper (we had the meat left from Thursday, we ended up eating our leftovers from Olive Garden).

Sunday- Lunch- My parents   Dinner-Pepper Steak using fresh peppers!

Monday- Rice Creola
Tuesday- Tomato Soup and Tomato/Basil Drop Biscuits
Wednesday-Salisbury steak, rice, green beans and fruit.
Thursday-  Coconut Shrimp
Friday- Chicken Broccoli Casserole

It just occurred to me that we are have rice three times this week. Matt loves it so I don’t think he will mind.