Category Archives: Groceries

September Goal Update

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1.  Full Fund the budget each month.  I was able to complete this by using $400 of our grocery budget.!

2. Emergency Fund to $2000.   Added $100 this week.

. 3. Groceries: Reduce Grocery spending to $300 for the month. Currently, I have spent $274 for the month. I have the remaining $26 plus a $5 refund from Target in cash. I am excited because I have purchased 80# of chicken, 90 rolls of toilet paper and this list, all this month!  I will admit that the last 2.5 weeks of the month will be challenging but I am setting myself up to succeed.

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month .  Total spent this  month is $304.11. We decided to go ahead and complete some preventive work on Matt’s van this month, our goal is to extend the life of the van till my current van is paid off. I was able to find gas for $1.99 a gallon so I am very hopefully that we are able to stay within the budget for the month.

5. Eating out- Reduce/Eliminate Eating out for the month of September. $80 for the month including the purchase of 2 meals during my recent trip.

Disney- Pay at least $375 toward our Disney trip to maximize Disney points prior to November. This week I paid an additional $100 toward our Disney trip so total for the month so far is $200!  I do have a yard sale planned for next Saturday, all proceeds will go toward meeting this goal!

Extra Goals:
1.  Plan to purchase both Lily and Amanda birthday cards.  Completed! 

As you can see, for the month I am really on track financially. I want to make sure that I stay accountable for the next two and half weeks, they will be the most difficulty. I am also very excited that we have been able to turn off the air conditioning for the last 24 hours. My goal is to get at least 7 days of no heat or air this month to reduce our electric bill to under $250.

Saving on Saturday

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sos

I am so excited about this Saving on Saturday!  Food Lion, our one and only local grocery store, is running it’s house brand sale!  In the past they have ran this sale twice a year, usually January and July. This has not been the case in 2015, this is the first time this year they have offered this sale. With each “house brand” item you purchase you receive a coupon for $.0.25 off your next order. You must purchase 4 items at a time and they limit you to 40 items or $10 at a time. The reason I like this so much is they have house brands of just about everything.  In addition to this coupon, they often run sales on the house brand items . I was also so glad to read that this sale will continue for the next four weeks with new/different items on sale each week.  My biggest disappointment is that I have not came up with a legitimate way to figure the true savings. Because the “house brand items” are usually cheaper to begin with it is hard to enter a saved amount.  I did use my usual tracker to get an idea and it gave me a savings of 42% with my two trips. The other method I have seen and like but really is not accurate in most case is to take the number of items purchased and divide by total cost. I have spent 79 cent on each of these items which is a better way to judge but still not the most accurate.

I spent $66.19 in 7 transactions for the following:

8 2 L Soda
15 Bags of frozen corn
4 4lb bags of Sugar
40 cups of yogurt
18 packets of taco seasoning
6 packets of Ranch dressing
6 boxes of Ziti Pasta
4 boxes of Jumbo elbow noodles
6 cans of cream of celery Soup
6 cans of cream of Chicken Soup
1 can baked beans
2 blocks of cream cheese
Bag of potato’s
package of Pepperoni

After hearing and confirming the sale, I went to my pantry and made a list of “wants” that if I can purchase over the next several weeks, I will consider my stockpile full. So far I am approximately 75% of the items. I am trying really hard to stick to a small grocery budget of $300 this month. Currently I have $32 in cash left in my envelope. My plan is to watch for a sale on Ketchup as this is the next “big” items on my wish list. I will then use my remaining cash and be done for the month! Easier said than done but it is a goal!

Monday Menu Planning

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Breakfast– French toast, toast with new jelly, cereal, poptarts or grits. Zach has been grabbing applesauce or canned fruit for breakfast as well. Keeping it simple this week!  Saturday morning, Matt made biscuits and gravy, Sunday morning- baked oatmeal.

Lunch- The kids will be taking Lunchables everyday. I am headed to a conference on Friday so I will grab leftovers or even a Lunchable this week?

Dinner– I am trying to stick to my goal of leaving work by 5:30 daily so I can eat with the family most nights.

Saturday- Lunch: BBQ chicken pizza .   Dinner- Layered Taco Salad.

Sunday- Lunch- Spaghetti Lasagna .  Dinner-Leftovers or sandwhiches.

Monday- Country Style Steak, Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes, corn and Mandarin orange salad
Tuesday- Chicken Fried Rice
Wednesday-Chicken nuggets, FF and fruit
Thursday-  ?? Sheila decides or leftovers
Friday- Pizza rolls

Saving on Saturday 9/5

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As I mentioned in this post, I am planning to make the next couple of months, low spend/no spend months. That does create a small problem with one of my favorite things to post, Saving on Saturday. The reason, if I am not spending then how can I really be saving. So at least for a couple of times I am going to use this day to discuss my budget and my progress toward goals. My intention is to give concrete steps that I am taking to meet each goal. So for today an update on September Goals.

1. Reduce Grocery spending to $300 for the month. So far I have spent nothing on groceries for the first 5 days of the month. I did go to the building this morning to “shopping” during menu planning. I am so excited to find the meat and other items to make no shopping easier.  I also have already checked the CVS ad starting on Sunday and will not be making a trip this week.  This is a tough decision but I don’t need anything and with no free items why be tempted.

2. When I looked at my September budget, I have 4 categories that are not completely funded for the month so the remaining $400 of the normal grocery budget will be used to completely fund the budget. This should actually occur next weekend after I receive my first paycheck of the month.

3  Plan to purchase both Lily and Amanda birthday cards.  Completed!  Amanda will  not be getting gift card, instead she needs some items for college.

4. Pay at least $375 toward our Disney trip to maximize Disney points prior to November. Paid $100 toward the trip this week! I did use my Disney card to purchase the gift cards for the kids spending money so I am excited to see where my reward dollars are in a couple of days.

5. Maintain Gas budget at or below $400. We have had to purchase gas in both vans but still less than $100 so far.

6. Reduce/Eliminate Eating out for the month of September. So far we have spent $60 for Zach’s birthday meal and donuts for his class. I do have a meal planned for tomorrow in addition to most of the meals planned for the week. This should definitely help us stay on track.

I have also placed one item, toddler bed on a yard sale site and plan to clean my closet out this week to have a good start! My goal is to place all money earned toward our Disney trip as the other items in our budget are currently funded!

August In Review

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I am posting this a day early but hey at least it is posted.

Blogging:  Goal: 14 per month This is actually post 20! I may or may not post tomorrow but I am very pleased with the way I am starting to keep up with posting on a regular basis.  Goal MET!

Weight: Goal:  Met and maintain weight of 175. This goal will be considered met each month that weight loss is achieved and once this weight is achieved, each month maintained is considered achieved.  Struggling still.. I have in the last week added back in regular exercise so I hope that will make a difference.

Spiritual-  Goal. I want to spend time reading and or studying the Bible at least 5 days a week for the year.  I am going to consider this Goal MET! I have been struggling over the summer to find time to read but with school back in session, it appears to be getting easier and I am trying to make a priority otherwise.

Financial Goals-
1.  Full Fund the budget each month.   I am excited to post GOAL MET! Our savings both emergency and yearly is starting to look regular.

2. Emergency Fund to $2000.  Met. Added $100!  Goal met 3 months in a row!

. 3. Groceries: Spend $700 a month .Total Fail.  Again I am struggling in this area. I am currently $185.72 over for the month. We actually spent less this month than the several month but still we are way over again.

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month .  Fail again. I am actually only over by less than $50 this month so I have made some improvement but still not enough. September is without need for tags or title or insurance and with gas prices continuing to decease I am hoping to stay in budget!

5. Eating out- tracking purposes only $381. Again a decrease from previous months.

Disney- Failed!  But I have plans to change this!

August was not a total fail or a total success for anything. I do have plans for at least September to help adjust our budgets. I will post more later on the “goal” and the rationale as to why I think September should demonstrate good progress with all my goals.

Menu Planning Monday

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Menu planning is usually not all that difficulty at my house. The main reason for this is that we are always trying to make and package items that make life simpler and easier to survive. For example, when we buy hamburger, part of it is cooked and frozen in 1 pound containers, these can be used for spaghetti, chill or even hamburger helper. This past weekend, I have been focusing on cooking ahead. Breakfast items have been made and place in the fridge for easy quick mornings. I made “Breakfast Burrito filling” on Saturday morning and a large container of baked oatmeal on Sunday. We cooked up several bags of dried beans because they are so much healthier and cheaper than canned beans. On Sunday, we picked 2 gallons of ripe muscadines.  I made a batch of jelly, frozen 8 cups of whole muscadine and made a second “starter” for more jelly. Sometimes by spreading the extra work out it makes it easier and we definitely eat better and spend less.

Now on to the menu plan

Breakfast-Breakfast burritos, baked oatmeal, French toast, toast with new jelly, cereal, poptarts or grits.

Lunch- The kids will be taking Lunchables everyday, I will take leftovers Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a sandwich on Tuesday. Matt will be eating from the fridge or sandwich every day.

Dinner– I am trying to stick to my goal of leaving work by 5:30 daily so I can eat with the family most nights.

Saturday- Lunch: Coconut shrimp and grilled pineapple.   Dinner- Chicken Enchiladas

Sunday- Lunch- with my parents.  Dinner-out of the fridge.

Monday- Spaghetti with meatballs and garlic bread.
Tuesday- Grilled Chicken salad
Wednesday-Pulled pork, green beans and fruit
Thursday-  Sonic corn dogs ($0.50 each)
Friday- Cowboy beans and cucumber relish from the freezer.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

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  • We have been home from vacation for 2 days and are about 1/2 the way unpacked. Goal- Be completely unpacked by Saturday.
  • I am going to be changing/hopefully reducing my work schedule over the next month to make things a little bit easier around here in the evenings. My goal until the changes officially take place and for the whole school year is to be leaving work by 5:30. So far I have been home 2 days in a row. Go me!
  • During my extended lunch break today, we headed to Winston to Vision Works to order both Zach and Kendall new glasses. The lesson we learned is that glasses for the little kids need to have nose pieces to keep them from sliding off their face. I did use a coupon surprised? We were able to purchase 2 pair of glasses with transitional lens plus a very nice contact lens case for Lily to take to school for $200.
  • I am planning to attend a continuing education class in September, it will be the first time in 10 years I have stayed by myself in a hotel room. I think I am a little too excited!
  • Disney planning is in full swing as soon as we finish unpacking from the Beach.
  • As part of getting ready to go back to school, I had the kids try on and get rid of any shoes that were too small or that they did not like. Kendall is upset because now she is left with only 22 pairs of shoes.
  • Lily has cheerleading every night this week and man is it rough trying to get everyone back on a school schedule. Zach will start Kindergarten and we are trying to eliminate naps up front so the evening have been full of attitude. Tonight was at least better than last night. Zach made it to his “normal” 7:30 bedtime. Last night he was in bed at 6:50.
  • Amanda has started college and so far I am very proud of the hours she is putting in to be successful!
  • We are on budget so far for the month in both groceries and gas. I am so proud of this especially because of the massive Costco trip we made on Sunday in addition to the purchase of school supplies today.
  • Blogging is always better at the beach, I guess the smell of the ocean makes my thoughts come easier!

 

Menu Plan Monday

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imageSide note…yes I plan to include random pictures from the beach with each post,just because it is fun!

One of the ways that we are able to afford our vacation is by planning ahead. The focus of this beach trip is the beach, which for us means alot of playing in the sand and water. The condo we stay at is at least a 10 minute drive from   any resturants or stores so we plan ahead and usually only eat out a couple of times.

The menu looks  a little different this week because we actually plan a little bit more.

Lunch- “Lunchable” and sandwhiches on the beach.

 

Sunday- Breakfast- Cracker Barrel    Lunch- Steak and Shake Dinner-Pimento cheese sandwhiches
Monday- Breakfast- gravy and biscuits, Dinner- PF Changs for my birthday.
Tuesday- Breakfast- Donuts, DInner- Mexician feast.
Wednesday-Breakfast- Sausage cresant rolls, Dinner- Baked ZIti
Thursday- Breakfast-poptart/ cereal. DInner- Hot Dogs
Friday- Breakfast- Eggs, bacon, toast.  Dinner: Chicken and Broccli
Saturday- Breakfast- Poptart/Toast/cereal.  Dinner:  Seafood out or left-overs

Saving on Saturday August 8th

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image

These are the items that I was able to purchase last week at CVS. My favorite deal was purchasing 2 boxes of cereal, 2 shampoos and a bottle of hand soap for $0.40. The reason this was possible was that I received an “extra” 5 ECB for reaching $50 in beauty care spending. I used that in conjunction with the 5 ECB for purchasing $20 in P&G products from last week.  When you combine all the transactions 5 in total I spent around $8 and saved 81%.  The sharpies are going to finish up Zach birthday gift (autograph books for Disney). All the other items when in my beach stock.(More details on these hopefully later in the week.

I made several additional shopping trips this week to grab up “Lunchables” which we will use at the beach for lunches and for easy school lunches to get us back in the swing in a couple of weeks.  My best grocery deal this week came at Food Lion. I had to make a shopping trip to purchase baby food to use at work, I did use a $1.50 coupon that printed at the machine, At the end of the transaction, the regrister also printed a $3.00 catalina. I used this to purchase bread flour for $.25.

I have also started to play around and use the ibotta and checkout 51 apps. So far that have been fairly simple to use and I am not purchasing items that are not already on my list, so ever little bit helps. This week alone I earned $0.75 at Checkout 51 and 5.35 at Ibbota,

What have you been doing to save money?

Monday Menu Planning 08/03/2015

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After begin so far over budget last month, you would expect us to have lots of food and items to choose from. Unfortunately, this is not the case, mainly because of the way I shop.  We are heading on vacation  next weekend and my plan is to not shop for groceries until after our return. This should help reduce/contain the bill for August. So this week is about using fresh items and cleaning out the pantry so to speak.

Breakfast-Cereal, Poptarts, grits, French  toast, breakfast burritos and maybe some baked Oatmeal to help.

Lunch- Leftovers, sandwiches, dipping day at least once. I made a batch of egg salad and chicken salad on Saturday so sandwiches are the main choice for the week. If needed we have bowls of Mac and Cheese as well as crackers that could be come lunch easily.

Dinner– Focus on smaller meals with little to no leftovers to toss.

Saturday- Lunch: Egg Salad and Chicken salad on Ritz crackers, because we had no bread.   Dinner- Pasta salad with pork, watermelon cantaloupe..

Sunday- Lunch- Cowboy beans.  Dinner-Chicken salad sandwich on fresh sour dough bread.
Monday- Pork chops, potato salad, cantaloupe and cucumber relish
Tuesday- Roast with carrots, onions and fresh fruit.
Wednesday-Hamburger Helper
Thursday-  Layer Taco Salad
Friday- Falafas in crockpot and/or leftovers.

Currently we have about 1/4 a gallon of milk left and are out of several of the kids favorite foods but they are leaning to eat what is on hand. I am hoping to grab an awesome deal on lunchables to use when school starts so at least they have something to look forward to.