2013

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Sheila

Kendall requested a trip to Build a Bear for her birthday this year, so today we headed to Winston-Salem to celebrate all of her favorite things. An added benefit for me was that I could get some shopping and awesome saving in as well. Matt used 2 emptied Starbucks coffee bags for 2 free coffees. I had $10 Bear Bucks for Build A Bear and we ended up hitting Bath and Body Works to grab some hand sanitizer as well. However these were not the highlights of the trip saving wise.

I knew that today was $1 Flip Flops at Old Navy, however the other in store sales combined with a $10 off $40 that was given to be at the cash register made a good deal on flip-flops into an awesome trip for clothing. We purchased 4 shirts for Matt, Matt a pair of shorts, 3 shirts for me, 3 pair of Flip flops for me, both the little girls got 2 pair of flip-flops and Zach got 3 pair, one for this year and two for next. The total cost for 18 items $55 or 56% savings.

One of the last stops of the day was Harris Teeter. I knew they were running a Super Doubles promotions this week. I spent around 2 hours last night preparing a list. We chose to return to the “new to us” Harris Teeter. My only disappointment was that they did not carry “Suddenly Salad” but their customer service makes up for that in full. We purchased all items that we use on a regular basis including Kool-Aid Jammers for $1 a box. In total I spent $31 and saved $81 or 73%!

Things that Work

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Sheila

I wanted to share with you things that we are finding that work for us as we continue to reduce debt and live crazy busy lives.

Weekly menu lists: a very simple list of 5-7 meal that we have all the ingredients for. Each day Matt or I or both can decide what sounds good for dinner. We usually make the list on weekends and it most likely follows a trip to the building to grab items from the freezers. Currently we are focusing on using up what we have an only adding items that are awesome deals. In the future we are considering purchasing a half cow but don’t have enough space for it right now so cleaning out is serving multiple purposes as well as keeping us to the $600 grocery budget.
Zaycon foods: My plan is to order another 80 pounds of chicken breast this month for pick up in April. This will be the 3rd time we have ordered the chicken breast. 80# last almost 6 months for us. I have also been pleasantly surprised that each time we order the price per pound has dropped! Another item that has been great is the uncooked chicken tenders. I will be purchasing more if they are offered in our area again. We have considered the bacon and hamburger but the price per pound seems a little bit much for us currently but I will keep options open!
Coupons especially when playing the drug store game at CVS. I have reduced my spending greatly as CVS recently but it is still the best way for me to save money and by lots of items. .
Costco- this may seem out-of-place but I hate to grocery shop! Costco makes it fun and easy. I watch my prices and do try to purchase as much as possible with coupons but if we run out of an item than Costco is definitely cheaper for us that paying full price at the local super market!
Coke Rewards- I am actually more impressed and pleased with this reward program than either diaper brands! I simply enter points and redeem for free product. The great thing is that they always offer free coke products and unlike the diaper reward programs the prices have not changed greatly!

Chairs

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Sheila

I love shopping Big Lots for furniture. My living room set and our bed were both purchased at Big Lots. We have been talking about wanting a small sitting area in our bedroom for a while. Last night, Matt and I went to Big Lots after the kids were in bed, thanks to Haley watching them sleep. Here is what we purchased.

Saved 88%

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Sheila

I think that the TV show “Extreme Couponing” has really done massive damage to the couponing in general. I want to debunk some of the myths that it has implied with my real world experience. Today I knew I needed to make a stop at CVS to pick up Diet Cokes with a rain check I have been holding, so this is my real life example of how anyone can save money.

On “Extreme Couponing” the folks spend between 30-80 hours a week couponing. Come on who has that much time to waste? Total time I spent planning, clipping and shopping for this trip was 1 hour. The next myth is that you need “at least one newspaper subscription per person in your family” or that dumpster diving, begging neighbors coupon inserts or even stealing inserts from empty houses are necessary to get great results. I have ONE newspaper subscription! I gladly will accept any insert you don’t want but other than my own, I usually end up with my parents” inserts as well. However most weeks like this one, I receive the inserts at least a week late or the paper person even forgot a couple. Finally, in order to stay in the rules and have the least out-of-pocket a minimum of 10 transactions are require. I completed 2 transactions today!

Today at CVS, I spent a total of $6.83 and saved $48.35 or 88%. I did start with a $10 Cash card from buying drinks last week. Before work this morning I spent less than 10 minutes on Southern Savers clicking on any items from the CVS list I thought I might wanted, printed out the list and clip coupons while sitting at the store. I also did discover an awesome 75% deal on deodorant so pulled up the coupon database and head back to my car to grab 2 $1 off coupons.

First Transaction
2 Suave Kids Shampoos   $2.00 each    $0.50/2 coupon
4 Suave Body Washes      $2.00 each     B2G1 free coupon
2 Tubes of Colgate toothpaste @2.99 each    2–$.50/1 coupon
$10 CVS cash card
Total out-of-pocket $5.69
received 4 ECB for purchasing $12 in Suave, 2 ECB from Toothpaste and 1 ECB for using Green bag 4 times

Second Transaction
5 2L Diet Cokes    raincheck for $0.88 each
1 bottle each of Tresseme Shampoo and Conditioner     $4.49 each B1G1 coupon, CVS Coupon for $2/2 bottles of Tresseme
2 Sticks of Advance Control Mitchum deodorant $1.99 each   2-$1 off coupons and CVS coupon for $1 off $4 deodorant
1 Caramel candy 0.33 cent
Used ECB from above
Total spent $1.14.

What’s Up 1/10/13

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Sheila

It has been a sad week at our house. One of our neighbors passed away on Monday after a battle with cancer. We are closer to this neighbor than most as they have a son who is Haley’s age. We actually carpool for several years, the wife made our wedding cake and Haley’s dress for the wedding as well. Haley and I attended the visitation last night. It was hard and of course I didn’t know what to say but that is okay because I realize it was not about me! Another family that could use some prayer is Elizabeth and her son Jacob at http://trenchesofmommyhood.blogspot.com/ . I have never met her but read her blog and know she would appreciate it!
I am finding that by using the envelope system on my Iphone I am keeping much better track of my spending especially in regards to groceries. I made a huge trip today to Food Lion to stock up on some items. But that will be the last one of the month because I only have $18 left in the budget for the month. I am determined that I will not go over, even if I have to end up missing a couple of deals over the next several weeks. I am also thinking toward making February “eat out of the pantry month”. This will mean I can reduce my budget to $100 and use the extra to pay off some more debt? Not quite sure if that will work or not but I will make that decision after the next 3 week with less than $5 a week to spend on groceries!
Matt has a really good job in the works! This is awesome and a definite answer to prayer. I also am starting to pick up a couple of hours at the nursing home so I am excited to see how much we will pay off in debt/outstanding medical bills by the end of January.
Lily has a cheerleading competition this weekend. It is only an hour away so I am excited to see them perform!

Day In the Life- Eating Like You Are Rich While Shopping Like You Are Poor

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Sheila

Today is the first Thursday of the month, this was good news for us in several areas. First it was my first paycheck of the year, which I was really unsure about because of taxes and some major changes I made this year during open benefit enrollment. I was pleasantly surprised today. Next the news keeps getting better, I will be receiving one of my “extra” paychecks this month as well. Because I am paid every 2 weeks, 2 months during the year we receive this “extra” check. Our budget is based on the 2 checks a month so it makes this an extra” check. Matt and I sat and looked at our budget this morning and currently the plan is to pay off 4 of our outstanding debts with this check. I will definitely let you know when this happens. After paying bills and getting excited that we actually are ahead this month, it was off to the grocery store. Thank you, Matt for the second part of the title.

I have mentioned before that currently we have quite a bit stockpiled but that I felt our stockpile lacked meat. One of the stops that I have been wanting to explore was our local meat processing plant. We decided to head there first today. I am so glad we did. We were able to purchase 18 “meals” of meat for $115.00. WOW! Last stop of the morning, Food Lion. They are currently having their house brand sale for each “house brand” item you buy you earn 0.25 toward your next order. I have spent probably an hour collecting coupons and working out the 2 transaction. We ended up spending $43 and saving $49 or 54%. I used most of the Catalina that I collect over the past week. I also added 4 additional meals of frozen shrimp to the list. So all together today, we have spent around $165 of our grocery budget but really have enough meat for an entire month!!!

I do have to add a final shopping trip in it was on Wednesday to CVS. I needed make up removal wipes. I expected to receive 5ECB due to the beauty club purchases I made on Sunday. I was not expecting to receive 8.50 in quarterly ECB or a $4 of 20 facial care purchase. I was able to grab enough wipes for probably 3 months and spent $1.35, 94% savings!!!

Saving at Food Lion

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Sheila

Last Thursday, a friend let me know that Food Lion (our only grocery store in town) had put out a gift. A coupon $5 off $5 purchase, this coupon was available from their website in a pdf file. So I took advantage of this and print some to use. The expiration date on the coupon was 12/29/2013, I realized that this was probably a mistake. After a day the company corrected the date to read 1/1/2013. I knew that it would take a few days for the company to stop excepting these. But also thought I will use as long as they let me, the gravy train stopped tonight. I am sad but not surprised. I have been able to treat the family with items like potato chips, cookies and ice cream over the past week.

I/We stopped a total of 10 times to use this coupon, spending a total of $9.23, saving 67.99 or 88%. I could qualify for extreme couponing with this one! Most of the transactions ended up costing less than $1 except for the one I completed on Sunday afternoon. In the process of using these coupons, Catalina have been printing at the end of each trip. I wanted to know if they would limit the number of these I could use so I tried. I purchased a roast $6.54(using a $1.50 off $6 meat purchase), a bag of shredded lettuce $1.99 and 3 tomatoes $1.48(using a $1 off $3 of produce), 4 2L drinks of store brand $0.83 each(coupons for $0.75 off three, the fourth was to raise my total), 2L Diet Coke$1.66 (Free with minimum $10 purchase). I had a $1.50 off $15 and the $5 off 5. My total came to $3.83. The current plan is to go for one more trip to Food Lion on Thursday, they are having their brand sale that basically gives you $0.25 off each of their brand items you buy. I will be stocking up on mustard and ketchup as well as using the rest of my Catalinas.

On a very personal note, I have been able to do something with everyone of my 2013 goals today!

Shopping- 11/05/2012

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Sheila

I was super excited to learn that Harris Teeter was running a coupon event this week. The news got even better when I learned that due to my location, the stores to the North were having Super Doubles and the store to my south was having Triples. The choice was going to be difficult until I learned that Triples included coupons up to $1!! To the south and Salisbury it was. I have actually made two trips already, one on Thursday and one as a date on Saturday night. I have spent a total of $56, saved $160 or 74%. Saturday night was my single highest saving amount of $97. Matt was not impressed until I reminded him that $18 of my $33 spent was on Tide Laundry Detergent. I am brand loyal to Tide because it cleans the clothes which prolonges their lives. So this was definitely a stock up trip! I also made a trip to CVS this week for deodorant, I really like Mitchum and Matt really likes the new Right Guard 5 so I was able to make both of us happy for $12! I spent a total of $18 saved $35 but the best deal of all was the 2 rainchecks that I have now for Diet Coke 2 L at 0.88 each!!

Total spent this week is $74 or less than 1/5 of the budget!!

Grocery Budget/ Shopping Update 10/25/2012

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Sheila

As the month of October comes crashing to an end, I am thinking toward debt reduction and our budget for the coming year. This year has seen some major financial changes for us, but my God is bigger than any of those! I will share in more detail very soon the evidence of this! However in the mean time, I have been focusing on readjusting the budget. Our biggest spending area has always been the grocery budget. In reality, I have fed and providing our items for personal use for about $31 a person a week. For the past 3 months, including this one I have been below budget. Looking back at the entire year to this point I am 50% for meeting budget and on average spend $756 a month. My thought is that with diapers and formula no longer being needed at all, I should be able to reduce this amount to $600 a month. Starting in November, I am going to use this as a stated goal. in addition to this goal, I know that I need to start using cash for grocery purchase. But in order to do this I have to be able to limit shopping for several weeks so maybe November will help in this area also. This month I have spent $725 including my shopping today.

We decided to head to Winston Salem today in order to use one of the gift cards I won at the Fall festival and combine it with an awesome,kids eat free coupon at Olive Garden. Combining both deals we (5) ate for $20 tip included, I also brought home enough left overs for Haley’s dinner and at least 2 lunches tomorrow! I am really pleased with this deal and combined with the fact we order and ate a free pizza at lunch, no eating out should not be a problem this weekend.

I had read earlier that Harris Teeter was having a really good sale this week, so when I settled on the fact that we were heading to Winston, I decided to plan a coupon trip. To keep things real, I spent approximately 1. hour looking at the sales and pulling out coupons. I spent $31 and saved $63 or 67%!! Even better, I purchased eggs and milk that should last us for a couple of weeks. We will be leaving in 3.5 weeks for Michigian for a week. I would like to clean out some of the food from the freezers. Just in case the electricity goes out while we are away. I hope that will all the items we have been stockpiling, I will be able to avoid shopping except for trip supplies until after our return.

Grocery Shopping 10/20/2012

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Sheila

For the past several years we have been working to reduce our grocery budget. One of the suggestions that Matt made was that I start really keeping track of what I am spending and saving at each store. Over the past several weeks, I have been doing just that. I am thinking that by sharing at least once a week,it will build more accountability in as well.

This week I stopped in at Food Lion on Monday to pick up the ingredients for Paula Dean mac and cheese. I discovered that pasta was on sale as well. However, I spent nothing out-of-pocket because of one of the items I won was a $20 Food Lion gift card. I still have around $6 left on the card for future use. I am not counting this in the total saving or spent because it truly was free!

The second store that I have shopped at this week is CVS. I ended up making 4 separate trips. One of the main reasons was Diet Coke 2L are on sale for 0.97 each. This is the lowest I have seen in about 6 months so I was going to make sure I have a stock pile. I did end up finding other deals including deodorant, razors and make up wipes to add to each trip. Overall this week I have spent $76 at CVS and saved 50%. Not outstanding saving but because it is on things we use regular, I am not too upset. I am a bit surprised on the overall total, but it does explain where part of my grocery budget is disappearing to!

Teens Tots and Everything In Between

Life, Love and Coupons

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