Category Archives: Saving Money

Saving on Saturday

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This week I was a lot slower than normal due to having a cold!  I spent some extra time asleep today but I was still able to accomplish a couple of things that I wanted to share.

First up I collect a gallon of tomatoes from the garden. We really enjoyed the pizza sauce that I made last Saturday so I decided to repeat the process. I used about a gallon and half of tomatoes (filled up my casserole crockpot) add some fresh oregano and basil along with a 1/2 cup of lemon juice and a tablespoon of sugar. This sauce turned out perfect!   I was able to can up 11 additional pints for future use!  I went ahead and made a fresh crust but with the ingredients all out I also made and froze two additional crust which will be nice for using during the school year.

I can tell the garden is coming to a close. So I have decided to go ahead and plan for next year. I had purchased a small green stalk planter on sale in the spring.  We used dirt from a garden bed that is currently behind the green house. This is a bed that is out of sight and out of mind so we will be moving it this fall.  I am going to use this small green stalk for attempting lettuce and spinach this fall and in the early spring..  I actually received a packet of arugula seeds that I started on the top row.   I also purchased two additional tops for my green stalk planter during the sale they had last week.

I did some research as to what type of garlic, spinach and lettuce would grow best in my area. One of the big reasons is that I have had very limited success with this in the past so I decided to try something new.  I placed an order for all three things so we shall see if they work.

I am attempting to lower the grocery budget significantly during the final four months of the year. I would love to keep this month September to less than $200.  I went through and skipped most of my subscribe and save order for the month. So far including the Amazon I have spent $106 for the month. We are starting to run low on paper products so a trip to Costco will likely occur around the first week of October which will mean at least a $500 budget for October.

EVERY BIT COUNTS!

 

Wordless Wednesday- 2 New Closet

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These are the last two rooms that we have re-arranged and designed this summer. Instead of moving my office back into a room, I actually like having my desk next to the bed so we definitely needed the bigger closet space.  We actually got rid of approximately 30% of our original closet before moving and re-arranging.

The original closet

 

The additional closet

The best part of this closet is that the shelf straight above is the only expense we had so less than $40. Everything else is repurposed!

 

Saving on Food

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This post is a little long and different than the usual things I post about saving but hang on for the story and I promise to get to the saving part at the end. Saving money is not always about finding the best deal or using the coupons but in reality it is about being a good steward of your money!

Fostering a child is a huge commitment of both time and money.  But the hardest part of the entire process is that you are expected to treat the child like your own but in reality you don’t any control. DSS is in control of his schedule and they decide when visits are without any regards for our schedule or what would work easier for the foster parents. I also have to get permission to get a hair cut but if it is not a hair cut they (either DSS or the parents) like I also get questioned about that decision.  One of the reason we decided to pursue becoming licensed foster parents was the stipend that is provided. Let me say up front it is not a huge amount nor is it the only reason we are licensed. E is a huge picky eater so groceries are expensive.  One of the huge benefits is that he is given free lunch and breakfast at school. This makes mornings easier for everyone. I should also mention that he eats breakfast every single day before we head to school as well.  While we were traveling, I read that all foster kids in NC received $120 in food stamps for the summer. This amount would definitely not cover even a month of food but it is something.  I called and asked about E’s, I was told it was mailed to the DSS office. So I called the office and was initial told “We are missing a bunch of those.” At that point I said well I have a case number and they confirmed it was mailed. After a week of back and forth, I was provided the original card which according to the date stamped on the front was received June 1st. Oh but wait, we called and reported it lost just this morning so now it will take another week or so to get another card. Finally this week I received and activated the card.
Now back to the saving part, I try to watch the Dollar General sales on soda as they have consistently been significantly cheaper.  This week, I purchased 3 12 packs of Diet Coke, and 3 12 packs of Dr. Pepper.  The Dr. Peppers work out to 33 cent each and Diet cokes are 44 cent each.  I also picked up cereal and candy on clearance as well. My receipt shows a total of $33.37 with  a savings of $32.73!  But I was able to use the sun bucks card and paid fourteen cent!  Using what God has provided is always the best option!

I made up two batches of banana bread today with the second batch canned in jars for future meals! I also made a double batch of brownies to be used a snacks and desert this week as well. Small things add up!

5 Things Friday – Family Update

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  1. We have officially survived the first week of school!  And in bigger news we managed an entire first week without eating out for dinner!  The kids have all started new things so this is the perfect way to do an update!
  2. Zach (turns 17 next week) has been struggling all week to get his class situation straighten out. He is currently a dual enrollment student. He is taking a welding class at Davidson Davie Community College. He attends this from 8am to 11 am daily. When his schedule first came out he was not placed in any high school classes. This required several phone calls to be added to classes. He was told he was not allowed to take any online classes which meant he would not be placed in honor class due to scheduling. In addition, he was placed in a 3rd period class which gave him exactly 10 minutes to get from the college to school.  Obviously this would not work.  He ended up talking to the principal and finally on Thursday, things worked out. He is currently enrolled in two honors online classes. This will allow him to come home shower and eat lunch prior to doing his school work.
  3. Kendall (18)  is absolutely loving her classes at Catawba!  She is officially considered a junior but has to take one additional class that is required for all student during the first year. She is doing an observation every Friday at Cooleemee Elementary and is excited to even participate in a trip to California next Spring. She is working diligently to pay off her car by adding two mornings a week at the YMCA.
  4. Lily (20) is settling in her apartment in Florida. She has been offered and accepted a entry level position at a law firm!  She plans to continue working at Disney part time because that is her dream but is super excited to be able to actually start a job in her field to determine if she wants to go to law school.
  5. I am going to combine the final updates because I want to stick to five and with six kids that is hard to do!  Amanda has moved to a house closer to Braxton school and they have started decorating it!  She is super excited to be switching to a first shift job that will allow her to be at all of Braxton’s events and be home every evening.  Haley just graduated from nursing school, has been offered a position in a local to her hospital and will be taking her licensure exam next week!

Saving on Saturday

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I knew from the beginning of summer that I would not be able to participate in the “Every Bit Counts Challenge” due to being in Florida for the first two weeks. However I am so excited to report that after arriving back home on Wednesday, I have been able to make and can 10 quarts and 2 pints of spaghetti sauce as well as we enjoy a meal with the sauce.
On Friday, I purchased a case of canning tomatoes from the local farm stand.  Saturday, I spent about 6 hours along with some help from Matt making salsa. I successfully canned 36 pints and 1 quart of salsa. I also have 2 quarts of salsa in the fridge as well. I am hopefully that this is going to be a years supply.   Depending on how busy I get I may try to do at least the same amount again but I need to get my years supply of spaghetti sauce first!
I am so excited for the small steps that I have been able to make this week!

 

5 Things Friday

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  1. Found Money- I think that I am usually really good at keeping track of my money.  I usually try not to let anybody keep my money without interest.  However this week, I have discovered that two separate business, held my money for over a year. First is the dentist office.  All three kids had dentist appointments two weeks ago. They are all old enough to go without me. Zach did call me and say that he needed more fluoride toothpaste and then text to say that I did not need to pay because he had a credit on his account. When I got time I called and this week they called me back.  Not only does he have a credit but Lily also has a credit from 2024. In thirty days I am expecting a check for $681.99.  The second found money is from a car service plan.  We purchased several service plans when I bought my car.  When reviewing one we realized that I paid for a battery in November 2025 that was covered under a service plan. I made Several phone calls and should receive $299 back in a matter of weeks. $980 found this week.
  2. I am trying an experiment. Our clothes have gotten increasingly wrinkled to the point I really need to iron even the t-shirts.  I hate ironing!  So instead I am currently hanging our outer clothes on the line to dry. If this works, I will do the last several times we wash clothes this summer. It will be hard to do when I go back to work but I am hoping it works well enough to stop or eliminate the need to iron right now.
  3. This summer has been extremely hot and dry!  We have been struggling to keep up with the demand of water.  After seeing the dead and sun burnt plants, I made the decision to pull out all my squash and green beans and replant.   We have gotten very little from these plants and I had the extra seeds. I am hoping that this works if not then I really have only just wasted time!
  4. We are starting to get some cherry tomatoes from the garden!  They are small but good!
  5. I ended up going to Cherry hill farm to purchase a box of canning tomatoes to make Baked Ziti with. My summer break going so fast that I realized that if I did not get the ziti made this week it probably would not get done. $15 for the tomatoes was cheaper and better than buying jarred sauce.

Saving on Sunday

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Yes this is definitely a day late post. I had planned to write this yesterday but now I want to include my clothes saving today so it is just a saving on Saturday post a day late!

Groceries remain our highest expenses next to out mortgage.  One of my summer goals is to prepare easy meals to use during the school year. It is one of the ways that i am able to maintain our grocery bill.  We typically only eat out once a week.  However between school and sports this puts a strain on my abilities. By having at least 100 meals in the freezer that can be heated and served this prevents lots of pizza and drive thru runs. This year I am also trying to make a comprehensive list of all the meats/ingredients in the freezers as well. My family LOVES baked ziti’s. I would like to make 8-10 of these and have one a month for the entire school year.  But  Italian sausage is expensive and each one requires a pound.  I was excited  to find  it on sale at $2 off a package. I ended up buying 10 packs so I hope to make these in the next couple of week. I am currently waiting on tomatoes in order to make more sauce as we are down to 5 jars.  We are currently working on the end of the whole cow we purchased two years ago.  I was glad to find some meat on sale as well. But to be honest spending $229.00 at Food Lion was a shock to my system.  However that is meat for 12 meals so at 19.50 a meal to feed 6 people is not horribly bad.  I also purchased alot of ice cream as treats.  I continue to monitor the cost of soda and when I saw that Dollar General was not only placing soda’s on sale but giving two $5 off 25 this week, I had to take advantage of that. I ended up spending $59 for sodas this week but that should last us a while and can were around 37 cent a piece and bottles were 65 cent each.

I took advantage of half price offer on Walmart + this week. This included a peacock tv subscription as well as 10 cent off a gallon for gas at Walmart. I am going to keep up with what I spend this year to see if it is actually worth it.  So far we have saved $9 in delivery fees and I am not going to include the cost of Peacock as we did not need it but it was a nice extra that the kids and Matt have already taken advantage of.

Kendall had requested Olive Garden for lunch today and we ended up shopping at a couple of stores in the same shopping center after eating. My family has discovered that they can eat “lighter fare” which is less than $15 a plate and includes soup, salad and breadsticks as well! Total cost for 7 for lunch today which included 3 additional meals of leftovers weas $120!  Belk’s had a good sale going on as well. We were able to purchase t-shirts for $10 each ! Matt also found  shirt on clearance for $18!  Our final stop of the day was a shoe store where I was able to purchase new tennis shoes for B and E and a new pair of dress shoes for Matt. I count spending $60 for shoes a win as well!

I have said several times today that I buy things on sale so we don’t have to pay full price when we need items!

5 Things Friday

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  1. We are currently experiencing a heat wave with temperatures between 95-100 and feel like temperatures between 105 and 110 degrees. We are also continuing  to experience extreme drought conditions. We have a watering system for most of our square foot gardens but it really cant keep up with the heat and drought conditions. I am not sure how much produce we will be getting.
  2. Matt was able to find a couple of small cherry tomatoes and we have gotten a couple of cucumbers and several squash. I am disappointed but we continue to try and definitely use what we get1
  3. Because of the holiday (fourth of July) occurring on Saturday, Matt and Lily both were off today! Kendall worked today but is off the weekend and so is Zach. We enjoyed a rare treat of pizza for dinner since we were all home for dinner.
  4. Matt and I spent a large part of the day cleaning the house. With all the kids working just about every day, I am struggling to keep up with the daily chores and have not been able to keep the house to a clean level that I wanted. It feels awesome to have the whole house clean!
  5. I am continuing to work on adding food to the freezer!  I was able to make two additional meals of stuffed shells this week.  I have also added several options for breakfast will continuing to use up the eggs!

Another busy but productive week.

Summer Goal Update

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In order to stay accountable, I need to make a weekly update on what I have been able to do!

This week is likely one of the slowest of the summer, keeping this in mind, I have been focused on making specific progress toward the goals.

One big thing that we accomplished this week that was not on the list was cleaning out the master closet. Matt and I reduced our closet by HALF!

This week I was able to pick about half a gallon of blueberries from the garden. Matt make blueberry muffins last night and the rest were frozen for future use.

1. Make and order 8 photo books. I have made one complete book on Shutterfly from our cruise. I am waiting for a good sale before ordering.  
2.  Read a total of 8 books. No progress this week. 
3. Make and freeze 12 baked ziti’s
4. Make and freeze 6 million dollar spaghetti pies
5. Make and freeze 6 pans of chicken enchiladas. I actually purchased 4 chickens at Costco to make this easier and the cheapest as well!  We now have 6 in the freezer and one for dinner next week!  Goal met 6/19/2026.
6. Either walk or exercise 3 times a week for at least 8 weeks. No progress on this week. I have not been outside much at all this week with lots of kitchen progress. 
7. Make and freeze 6 taco pastas.  I was able to make 6 taco pasta and we ended up freezing 5 of these. I am going to count this as goal met 6/19/2026
8. Make and freeze 6 chicken, broccoli rice casseroles. I was able to make 6 chicken broccoli casseroles. and we ended up freezing 5 of these. I am going to count this as goal met 6/19/2026
9. Make at least 50 meatballs and freeze.  This one is a little tricky but I wanted a place to record this. I made and froze 6 meals of Salisbury steaks this week. When I made the list I did not realize we were out of Salisbury steaks so that is the reason it was not included. 

Saving on Saturday

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To be honest most of the time, saving money takes time and/or effort. There are, have been and will be times that I do not have the mental capacity to even attempt to add one single thing to my schedule. This week have been mentally and physically exhausting.  And I knew that we needed to get some major things checked off the list as we have a fun outing planned for next weekend.  My major goal for today was to get the tomatoes planted. I am happy to say that I accomplished that goal and will hopefully share more about it tomorrow.  And I definitely did not think I had time to save money but I decided that sometime you just have to go ahead with your plan.

We worked or should I say Matt worked adding automatic watering systems to the gardens last night. He focused on getting both our tomato beds set up to water at least daily.  We have been slowly working on this project and it was crunch time as I could not plant the tomatoes until it was complete. While we did end up purchasing a new solar pump and drip line, I am happy to say we re used both the solar pumps and now successfully have a watering system on all the bed. We also had enough of the drip line to not only complete both the tomato beds but also the front bed which this year contains watermelon. After some thought, we ended up using a food grade bucket as the source of the water.

Basically the watering system for this bed was free as we purchased nothing.

I have been watching the sales especially at Dollar General because they have been the cheapest place to purchase soda’s.   Today, I ended up going to two separate stores as the first store did not have enough pack for me to complete the deal. I was able to purchase two small plastic bags/containers for ninety cents each. My plan is that one is a spare bath basket and one is a good way to transport sunscreen.  I was able to purchase 6 twelve pack of soda and some chocolate bars for next weeks adventure for $31, which makes the cans around thirty-seven cent each.

While waiting for CVS to open, I was scrolling Facebook and noticed that the local farm was running a buy two get one free special on strawberries today.  I knew we needed the strawberries and this made them $14 a gallon or $3.50 a quart, this is half price and very similar to what you can purchase in the grocery store. I debated grabbing these as it meant that we would have to spend some time and effort in capping and flash freezing most of them.  I am so glad I did . The strawberries are juicy and delicious and we have frozen three gallon which means that I should be able to grab another two gallons and have enough for the next 12 months.