Category Archives: Groceries

5 Things Friday

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5thingsfriday-logoRED1. On top of our already busy schedule, Zach started spring soccer this week. That means at least 2 practices and one game a week.

2. Over the past month, the car that Amanda drove has started to fall apart. The car had 282,000 miles but after $500 in repairs it finally died yesterday. Today, we received $150 for the scrap value.

3.In good news, the weather has turned warm quickly. We turned off our heat and based on the forecast for the next week, we should be able to keep it off for a couple of weeks. I will be amazed if we are able to not turn it back on but every penny counts and our electric bill jumped almost $100 for the month of February.

4. We have made absolutely no progress in the kitchen this week. I am hopefully to get some painting done tomorrow night but that is even doubtful.

5. The one area of our budget that I have managed to keep great control of is our groceries. I am continuing to cut the grocery budget this month by using a “credit” from American Express. I was able to purchase all the items on my list for less than $50 using this credit.

Menu Planning

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The month of February has been a lot off in many ways and I am looking forward to the new month! I have to admit that we had two rules for eating in February: 1) leftover clean out and 2) convient. Last week we ended up eating pizza bites and cheese sticks one night followed by Hamburger Helper the next. This weekend although busy, I feel like we have gotten back on track. Matt and I spent some time this afternoon making a new menu plan for the month. . The most impressive part is that we only repeated a couple of meals and I have at least 2 new meals to try out.

The Plan:

Breakfast–  Saturday-donuts/poptarts, Sunday- Bacon-Egg and cheese biscuits. Choice of muffins, toast, cereal or pop-tarts. I need to restock the breakfast choices over the next couple of weeks because we have really been cleaning out. One disadvantage for this week is that we currently have 2 eggs left in the fridge. I plan to either go to Aldi or Costco on Thursday depending on how the week shapes up. Until then we will be eating something just not eggs.

Lunch-I was  able to get the kids lunches packed in addition to a couple of salads for my lunch as well

Dinner-  Saturday- Lunch- East Coast Wings (after Cheer Competition) .   Dinner- Leftover s
Sunday- Lunch- Baked potatoes Dinner- Picnic dinner provided by my parents.
Monday- Hamburger and French fries
Tuesday-Chicken pot pie
Wednesday- pork chops, frozen flavor broccoli and fruit
Thursday- Shrimp alfredo
Friday- Grilled Chicken.

As  you will see in the update tomorrow, we have managed to keep the grocery budget for the month to $510 which means a total of $700 for the year. We are definitely telling a difference in the cabinets and freezers. But with a month of planning already complete, we should be able to keep the budget low again!

 

 

Snow Sunday Savings!

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The sun came out today which began the melting process for us! Matt has worked most of the afternoon clearing our driveway so I can head to work tomorrow.  After he finished he asked if we wanted to venture out to CVS and Walmart.  Considering that I had already opened my last 2L of Diet Coke, I agreed. This was another excellent week at CVS.  I completed 3 transactions spending $1.92 and saving $27.16 or 93% I grabbed 8 bottles of Diet Coke and 3 tubes of free toothpaste. I should have grabbed another Diet Coke but my calculations were off.  Next stop was Walmart to grab a couple of items that we will run out of prior to the end of the month, I was able to use a calculate and list and stay on track spending $30.73 which puts me at $199.83 for the month.

Since we all have been at home since Thursday and the kids really have been at home for a week, we used some of the time to clean and re-organize. I was seriously thinking about needing to push some more storage containers on Thursday but instead, found and repurposed things we already had. We are in the process of reducing the playroom and I took the shelf from it and moved it to Zach room.

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The best part of this shelf is that it originally was a kitchen cabinet/bar in a house that my brother and sister in law purchased when they were first married. I was helping with some of the work and originally place this shelf in my  building. As you can tell it has been moved and reused but still is a large steady piece of furniture. I also reconfigured my closet and was able to place this smaller shelf in the playroom.

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Total spend on this project which ended up taking a full day Zero.

A final way we have saved money this weekend is cooking at home and using items that we already have. I am hoping to stick to a lower budget for at least February and most likely even March. I am realizing that we have a lot of food that I have purchased and by keeping a rolling stockpile, I should be able keep at least that line item lower for several month this year, therefore reducing our total expenses significantly even with resuming the $700 a month budget in April or May.

January Money Diet Update

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I am not surprised at all to say that several thing have occurred this month that I did not originally think about or plan for. Fortunately, we have adapted and managed to spend as little as possible. One of the bigger things that has happen is the sudden dramatic weather change that has brought us temperature not rising above freezing for several days in a row. I discovered that we had a significant draft in our living room. We were able to purchase and reduce this draft for around $20 but this was totally unplanned. Next up was a computer problem, we ended up purchasing a new operating system for one of our computers which was $130 but in addition after spending several hours working on and around this problem, Matt and I both needed a mental break and headed to Cracker Barrel for Dinner. I am honestly glad we did because after coming home it took another 3 hours to get the computer back to a workable state. I am really enjoying this diet challenge because it allows us to stop and thing before spending, even if we decide to spend the money.  Now on to more positive news.

1. Grocery spending of $200 or less- Currently I have spent $168 after both a trip to Costco and Aldi. I am so excited by this number. I don’t see any reason we can not stay in our goal for the month. We also went ahead today and did a rough menu plan for the month of February. I can see that we should be able to maintain a low budget of $400 or less for February!

2. Challenge #1– Give away 31 things- I have a box of kids clothing already packed and have a couple of options. I am going to make sure this box is gone before the end of the month.

3.Challenge #2– Figure your Net Worth-  I did not complete this totally simply because this number has no meaning to me at this point. What I have done is make a spreadsheet to keep up with real number as I work at paying off credit cards and other debits. I also know the value of all our vehicles. Finally today, I set up access to my retirement account so I can at least glance at it from time to time. As an interesting side note, it has lost over a thousand dollars in January already.

4. Challenge # 3- Do something to earn an extra $25 or more this month.– I have several items listed on Facebook for sale right now.

5. Challenge #4- Reduce at least one expense– I stay pretty on top of this to begin with. But I was able to get a $14 credit on our cable bill due, this month and finally think we have that bill straighten out. I do need to check on our cellphone bill to make sure it is as low as possible.

Overall I am happy with our progress and this challenge is definitely helping me to find some money that can be saved.

Menu Planning Monday-01/18/2016

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Matt is slowly convincing me to switch to a monthly menu plan. I like knowing what we are eating and what food we actually have in the house to eat but I also miss changing things up a little each week. On the positive side of that is that we are having a bigger variety simply because I know what is coming and don’t want to repeat.  I am also using the weekends for two things, first to eat up leftovers and second to try some new dishes to put in the rotation. This is definitely a different week for us because the kids are out of school for 3 days but most of the evening activities are continuing as scheduled.

Breakfast–  Saturday- Gravy biscuits (leftovers were froze and labeled for the beach), Sunday- Sausage balls and pancakes. We purchased some premade croissants at Costco last week so we will use these up one school morning. Leftovers included baked oatmeal, pancakes,muffins and French toast. Pop-tarts, grits and cereal are also some choices.

Lunch-I will be taking leftovers and using up the can soup I have at work. The kids will be eating tomato soup one day, grilled cheese sandwiches and leftovers as well.

Dinner-  Saturday- Lunch- leftovers and broccoli cornbread .   Dinner- Sweet potato soup– not sure we will have again but not a complete fail.
Sunday- Lunch-  5 ingredient Burrito casserole– this is a hit definitely going on February menu.    Dinner- Leftovers.
Monday- Rice Creole
Tuesday-Grilled chicken, carrots and fruit.
Wednesday-Pork Chops, green beans, left over stuffing and fruit.
Thursday- Country style steak, rice and fruit
Friday- Spaghetti and meatballs.

CVS Savings 01/17/2015

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I explain the saving in just a second but first my newspaper drama that continues to make life interesting. I live in a rural area, this is no secret. In fact the “local” newspaper does not offer a Sunday edition. Coupon inserts are with the Saturday paper and they do not offer a “Saturday” only subscription.  The bright side is that I do have the option of two different city newspapers that both are delivered. I have been attempting to get regular deliver of at least one of these papers for several years.  It is usually a 75% chance that I get the paper at all. I have spoken to both of the paper on many occasions and currently am boycotting the Greensboro News and Record due to the fact that after paying for 6 months I received a paper 1 out of 8 weeks.   The other paper is supposed to arrive prior to 8am on Sunday morning. I spoke with someone about 3 weeks ago on a Monday after not receiving a paper, I was promised that if I would contact on Sunday prior to noon they would make the carrier bring a paper. The problem I usually have is that we go to church around 8:30 and don’t get home before noon. Today, was different since we are taking a skip day. I called the paper office about 9:30 and did the usually leave a message. I had already talked about ‘needing” several coupons from this weeks insert for my CVS trip, so Matt volunteer to go purchase a paper. After returning home around 11am we noticed the paper person in our driveway. I am not sure why but instead of one paper they left 2. I was super excited because this allowed me to stock up on deodorant for Matt!  So I was able to use coupons for all three of the insert this week.

I am still participating in the January Money Diet, one of the major things I am realizing is that I often buy food for the sake of convenience or because I know we will need it before long instead of waiting til I can find it on sale or we actually need it. One of the things I have been doing this month is making a list of items that we are low on as well as things we are in need to purchase. Matt is down to one stick of deodorant and one bottle of body wash so I placed these on the list and decide unless he ran out, I was going to wait for a sale. The sale happened this week!

It was Kendall’s turn to help me shop this week. I ended up completing 3 transactions, one on my card and two on Matt’s card. Total spent $12.52, total saved $41.70 or 77%.

Transaction #1- Matt’s card
2 bottle of Pantene shampoo  2 for $8.00
Coupon from 12/27 $3 off 2
5 ECB from last week
Paid $.56 ( tax) and received 4 ECB

Transaction #2- Matt’s Card
2 bottles of Irish spring body wash 2 for $7.00
2 coupons from today’s insert $1.00
2 sticks of Right Gear deodorant 2 for $7
BOGO coupon from today (subtracted 3.50)
4 ECB from first transaction and $.75 ECB from last week
Paid $4.73 and received 6 ECB

Transaction #3- My card
4 sticks of Right Gear Deodorant 2 for $7
2 BOGO coupons from today’s insert
$0.75 ECB from last week
Paid $7.23 and received 6 ECB

 

I count it a success any time I leave with more ECB than actual money I spent!

5 Things Friday-Money Related

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  1. We went shopping at Costco yesterday for some “needed” groceries and I am excited to report that we have stay on budget for the month. We spent $105 yesterday which puts our grocery spending for the month at $116!
  2. Tomorrow is a sad day.. I have plans to take down and put away the Snow Village for the year.
  3. Sonic is currently running some awesome specials. Yesterday, we were able to grab 5 deluxe cheeseburgers for $4.23 and added cheese fries at home to make it an awesome and inexpensive meal.  Next week they will have fifty cent corn dogs, I know at least one meal on Wednesday will be these!
  4. Last weekend, I realized that my watch was losing time. Matt decide to take it to Walmart to get the battery replaced. Unfortunately the battery was not the problem. I really did not want to spend money on a new watch but it is almost a requirement for my job. After some thought and discuss, we replaced the battery in one of Matt’s old watch and I am using it. I don’t mind, because of the large size. I consider this another win during our January Money Diet.
  5. Our new bed arrived on Wednesday and so far, we are both enjoying it!

Extreme Couponing

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I was really surprised to discover that I had not been to CVS since before Christmas, in fact, my ECBs expire this week. The reason behind my long absence has been simple, no really deals that I wanted/needed to grab.  This week was a huge change. I started the trip with 2 $0.89 ECB. I also received $2 ECB for winter spending on Matt’s card.

Here is a breakdown by the numbers
5 total transactions,( one of my card and four on Matt’s).
$7.88 total spent
$84.72 total saved of 91% with taxes included and 95% taking out the $3.68 of sales tax
$6.50 in ECB left.

I purchased:
6 12 pack of Coke (Used 6 free 12 pack coupons from my Coke rewards)
4 packs of M&M ( used 2 Buy One Get One Free coupons)
2 2L Liters (used a 0.24 coupon that printed from red machine)
4 Bottles so L’Oreal Shampoo ( used 2- $4/2 from 01/03)
2  Packages of Crest Sensi strips.

 

This is one for the record books!  My total grocery spending is less than $12 for the month so far!  I did make a trip to the building today to check out what we have in the freezers and did a little bit of organizing so we can get our pork order from Zaycon tomorrow. We have enough of a variety with the pork order that I am going to say we are going to plan on coming in under goal for this month of $200 and reduce the grocery spending in February to $500. That will get us totally on the right foot with groceries and may in fact help to control/reduce grocery spending for the year!

Update- January Money Diet

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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.

Menu Planning Monday

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imageThese are my exact feeling about today. This is the first week since prior to Thanksgiving that we are back to a “normal” schedule. I will be honest and say that I have really enjoyed this past weekend. Being able to stay home and organize most of it. But all good things must come to an end so back to normal we go. The good news is that I have really focused on getting thing prepared for this first full week so that hopefully, I can still fit in all the things I need to. Menu planning is extremely important as I have slashed our grocery budget for the month of January and would really like to maintain a lower budget of around $500 for the first 4-5 months. I know these are lofty goals but I am going stay positive and attack one month at a time.  I realized that I had not posted a plan since mid November so for an update,we have really been focusing on eating good meals and making use of the leftovers that keep occurring. This weekend , we are eating one meal of leftovers a day. So far we are doing excellent with no food being thrown away due to spoiling. This week we have a trip to the Metrolina Eye on Thursday along with a cheerleading competition on Saturday.

Here is the plan :

Breakfast–  Breakfast burrito on Saturday (leftovers for the week), Baked oatmeal on Monday (leftovers for the week)muffins and French toast are in the freezer along with our staples of eggs, grits, poptarts, cereal and toast.

Lunch-The kids are really enjoying homemade “chicken dunks” for lunches so these are packed for 3 days with a sandwich and a grab n go day finishing up the week. I am finishing up lettuce in a salad on Monday and will be eating left overs for the rest.

Dinner-  No new meals this week as we are in survival mood at least for the first couple of weeks.
Saturday- Lunch- leftovers.   Dinner- Stuffed green pepper soup.
Sunday- Lunch-  baked sweet potatoes.    Dinner- Leftovers.
Monday- Salisbury steak, packet of mashed potatoes  and fruit cocktail.
Tuesday-Chicken pot pie.
Wednesday-Pork Chops, green beans, left over stuffing and fruit.
Thursday-Leftovers, soup or may be a meal out depending on time
Friday- Hamburger helper.